Voices Against the Darkness

Imprisoned Writers Who Could Not Silenced World Literature Today | November - December 2009 Certain kinds of trauma visited on peoples are so deep, so cruel, that . . . only writers can translate such trauma and turn sorrow into meaning, sharpening the moral imagination. — Toni Morrison, “Peril,” in Burn This Book (2009).... More

The Concealed Gift of Our Society

Until my first novel was released in 2004, I was not aware of the diverse Iraqi artists who were part of my community. I had mostly lived and worked with non-Iraqi Americans. Yet in the process of promoting the book, I was introduced to a wonderful group of creative and intellectual men and women of Iraqi descent. .... More

MY LOOTED ART WORKS - RED LIST & MORE!

According to the Red List book published by the US Dept. of State, Baghdad in 2010, only one hundred eighteen Iraqi art works were featured out of nearly 1400 recovered ones. However, the number of the art works, which were viciously looted from the Iraqi pioneer and modern art museums, exceeds eight thousand pieces.... More

Painter in a "Home of Madness"

The first impression one had when entering Amer Fatuhi’s second one-man show (Al-Riwaq Art Gallery, October 21-28) was sheer surprise. First of all in the twenty paintings there were no shenashils, no arches, no domes and no Baghdadi cafes, sougs or bazaars. The figures that appear in the paintings are unfamiliar and extremely out of place... More

'Iraq's Other Frontier' showcases Chaldeans

Themes ranging from the horror of war to the simplicity of everyday life were expressed in a variety of media at the first-ever Iraqi Cultural Week art show at Madonna University. The Other Frontier of Iraq: Works by Contemporary Iraqi Artists ran January 16-23 at the university campus in Livonia... More

Blockade-hit artists fight to break isolation

The cultural blockade is part of an all-out unjust siege imposed on Iraq. The cultural contact with the world has been accordingly impossible. And the Iraqi artists "Painters and sculptors" have of course been hard hit by the blockade. The needed materials, including inks and paints, let alone canvases, have virtually disappeared... More

Two Artists Probing the Siege

After a rather long absence, both Amer Fatuhi and Burhan Saleh recently presented worthwhile efforts in their exhibition round the theme "The Siege". Held at the Iraqi Modern Art Center, the exhibition is number nine in the series of new Experiences launched by the Arts Department in 1991 and is still on... More

The Freedom To Create

It’s a far cry from being forced to immortalize Saddam Hussein in murals all over Iraq. When the Baath Party approached Amer Fatuhi, a well-established Iraqi artist, to paint portraits of the former Iraqi leader, he refused. He said he simply could not accept "blood money"... More

AMER Fatuhi - Far Away From the acceptance of others

Whether has Amer Fatuhi declared his opposition to painting, or whether he has preferred to slip away silently to preform his works, he was and still is trying his best to make his works bring to him the conservatives’ curse and the modernists’ questions. He led his way in life similar to the stray son who has made up his mind in a moment that he has no father!... More

Layla – July 31st, 2007 … The Show is Still Going on in Iraq and Elsewhere!

On November 21st, 2004 while Layla, a mother of two orphans, was heading home at Al-Dawara in Baghdad, a fanatic Islamist thug stopped her and ordered her to take off her Cross so she could become clean again!... More

Iraqi Artists in Amman: Trouble or Fortune?

Hundreds of prominent Iraqi artists and intellectuals, among them experts who enjoy Arab and international reputation for their outstanding works in different fields, fled their country to Jordan in protest against war, dictatorship, and abuse of human rights after the Gulf War. Their high concentration in Amman and to a lesser extent in other cities and their attempt to integrate into the society triggered different responses from Jordanian intellectuals... More