My Homeland

Art exhibition by Iraqi artists

By Jamil Khan @ Gulf Today-Sharjah, March 20, 2010

The “uglay face of occupation”, “dream of corrupt politician” and “General’s Diary” were some of the titles of artwork presented by seven prominent Iraqi artists at Art Sawa, Al Quoz, Dubai under the title of “My Homeland”.
The month-long exhibition by seven established Iraqi artists was started under the patronage and in the presence of Abdul Rahman Al Owais, Minister for Culture, Youth and Community Development on Wednesday.
The participating Iraqi artists Dia Azzawi, Nazar Yahya, Kareem Risan, Mahmoud Obaidi, Ghassan Ghaieb, Ahmed Bahrani and Rafa Al-Nasiri showcased the pieces of art that reflect the vision of Iraq as a memory of daily life in the form of objects of art.

Numerous techniques
The artists had used numerous techniques and a variety of materials to produce a diverse body of work for this unique exhibition, each piece of which traces and explores the path of the artists’ childhood memories as well as the mythology and history of Iraq.
Dia Azzawi who had displayed five pieces of artwork based on various mediums. Talking to The Gulf Today, he said that in the beginning of the 1980s, many artists and intellectuals began leaving Iraq. The trend continued even after the first Gulf War as a result of harsh sanctions, and after the occupation in 2003 a new wave of migrations followed. “I initiated this exhibition to enable Iraqi artists from across the globe to explore their feelings towards their homeland. The result is a unique exhibition that traces and explores the heritage of a country without humiliations and failures,” he said.

Art objects
Ahmed Bahrani, another artist who completed his project within a couple of months based on the memories of his native village near Babil was among the artworks catching attention of almost every single visitor of the exhibition on the opening day.
Amel B. Makkawi, founder of Art Sawa, said that more than abstract objects of art, these pieces convey the culture, heritage and reality of the Iraqi society, expressing sincere human feelings while elevating our perception and understanding of fine arts.
“The ‘My Homeland” exhibition is an unbelievable contribution to the artistic agenda, as it presents an excellent platform for these prominent Iraqi artists to share their memories and experiences, highlighting their feelings towards the catastrophic events that occur daily in different Iraqi cities. It is mainly a new page in the history of Middle East art,” he added.
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