The occupation of Iraq has seen the displacement of two million externally and two and a half internally. Iraqi culture is also in a state of displacement. The trauma of this experience is evident in the work of Iraqi artists both within and without the country.
Creativity vs Destruction is an exhibition that explores the experiences of five internationally respected Iraqi artists from the 1970s up to the present day. The focal point of the exhibition will be work from Rashad Selim, Waafa Bilal, Sama Alshaibi, Maysaloun Faraj and Henaa Mal-Allah. On the opening night the Kurdish-Iraqi artist Adalet Garmiany will be present to enact the specially commissioned performance ‘Placeless’, which explores the experience of exile and occupation of homeland.
The work exhibited will illustrate what is happening to Iraqi culture as a whole and will also show the artists’ individual reactions to their experience as Iraqis. The exhibition will consist in the main part of video and interactive multi media pieces. Also on show will be photography, sculpture and painting. Wall texts will explain the artists’ relationships with Iraq (most are refugees or émigrés now living in Europe and America).
On July the 3rd at 11:00 Adalet Garmiany will present a lecture on ArtRole an organization which he founded and which establishes links between the UK and the Middle East through art and art education.
On July the 3rd at 12:30 Henna Mal-Allah will talk about Ruins Technique: the method by which she constructs her remarkable canvases. Henna is Iraq’s foremost female painter and left Iraq only recently under the Scholars at Risk scheme, she currently holds a fellowship at SOAS.
On July the 12th at 6:00 Rashad Selim noted Iraqi artist and activist will close the exhibition with a lecture entitled Creativity vs Destruction: Stories of Iraqi Art.
Artist Profiles
Waafa Bilal
Waafa Bilal
The first part of Waafa’s life was spent in Iraq where he suffered torture under Sadam’s regime. Later he nearly met the same fate as a refugee in Kuwait. In 1992 Waafa emigrated to the US where he studied art.
Over the past decade Waafa has built up an international reputation with several high profile solo exhibitions to his name.
He currently teaches at the Chicago Institute of Art.
Website: www.crudeoils.us/wafaa
Adalet Garmiany
Adalet Garmainy
An Iraqi Kurd who, under pressure emigrated to the UK in 2000.
Adalet’s work explores his identity as an Iraqi Kurd through most media.
For ‘Creativity VS Destruction’ he will be performing a piece which reflects on the concept of an exhibition of Iraqi exiles work in Edinburgh (the capital of an occupying nation).
Website: www.adaletg.net
Sama Alshaibi
A Palestinian- Iraqi who has become a naturalized American citizen and whom is currently Assistant Professor of Art at the University of Arizona. Sama’s photographs and films are represented in many major collections world wide.
Of her own work Sama says, “I articulate the façade of security measures in a hyper-fearful post 9/11 world, and then demonstrate the exploitation perpetrated by those who seek to gain in the name of “security.” My work examines the sprawl and spectacle of the military machine while presenting the human counter-point to such national endeavors.”
Website: www.samaalshaibi.com
Maysaloun Faraj
Maysaloun Faraj
Maysaloun Faraj
Of Iraqi parentage Maysaloun was born in the USA, but went on to study in Iraq. She has lived in the UK for 26 years.
Since 1984 Maysaloun has contributed to noteworthy group exhibitions at local and international level, won numerous awards and held fifteen one-woman shows to date. Her artwork is in private collections world wide as well as important public collections.
In 1995 Maysaloun founded Strokes of Genius: Contemporary Iraqi Art; a groundbreaking three-part project encompassing a travelling exhibition, accompanying publication and website (www.incia.co.uk). Following on from the success of Strokes of Genius Maysaloun co-founded Ayagallery in London with her husband the architect Ali Mousawi where she continues to curate and host noteworthy exhibitions making it London’s premier venue dedicated to promoting quality art predominantly from Iraq but also from the Arab and Islamic world at large.
Of her own work Maysaloun says: Having left Iraq in 1982, a land in which I am deeply rooted and a people whom I dearly love, it was humanity and the human condition that interested and concerned me most. As an Iraqi, an Arab and a Moslem woman with an East/West upbringing, it is conflict, war, injustice, human rights, human wrongs and beauty lost that informs much of my work today.
Website: www.ayagallery.co.uk and www.kitesanddreams.com
Hanaa Mal-Allah
Hanaa Mal-Allah
Hanaa studied at the Institute of Fine arts in Baghdad and much later taught at the same. Hanaa exhibited in many high profile exhibitions including with the Baghdad-based Iraqi Phoenix group, which was set up in 2003 to prove the resilience of creativity during war time. In 2006 Hanaa left Iraq on a tourist visa, first to Paris and then to the UK, she was later protected under the Scholars at Risk scheme and awarded a fellowship at SOAS.
Hanaa is widely regarded as the foremost Iraqi woman painter alive. Her recent work is increasingly concerned with the loss of Iraqi’s heritage through the destruction of its libraries and the looting of National Museum following the 2003 invasion. As well as exploring the recent destruction of Iraqi heritage Hanaa’s work also investigates the recurrent cycle whereby, throughout the ages, the Mesopotamian landscape has been set on fire; many of her pieces are burned and cut as well as being painted. Hanaa’s work expresses the remarkable way in which such destruction can inspire and activate artistic creation.
Rashad Selim
Rashad Selim
A well known Iraqi Artist, intellectual and activist. Rashad left Iraq shortly after the ascendancy of the Ba’ath party.
Rashad’s work and his lectures both focus on Iraq’s cultural heritage.