Obliteration, a multimedia installation by the Iranian born artist Elahe Massumi, uses the practice of female circumcision to explore the difficulties which women still face in this supposedly enlightened era. Routinely carried out throughout Africa and in parts of Middle East, female circumcision involves the removal of the clitoris and sometimes-other portions of the female genitalia from young girls and young women. The painful procedure, which is frequently performed without benefit of anesthesia, is deemed necessary to ensure that the young women will be marriageable.