{"id":8566,"date":"2022-05-23T08:00:42","date_gmt":"2022-05-23T06:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/?p=8566"},"modified":"2022-12-22T02:51:39","modified_gmt":"2022-12-22T00:51:39","slug":"baghdad-art-scene-springs-to-life-as-iraq-seeks-renewal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/baghdad-art-scene-springs-to-life-as-iraq-seeks-renewal\/","title":{"rendered":"Baghdad Art Scene Springs to Life as Iraq Seeks Renewal"},"content":{"rendered":"<h4><\/h4>\n<h4>Hadani Ditmars<\/h4>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>As Iraqis wait in yet another political limbo for a clear winner to emerge from last fall\u2019s elections, a renewed focus on art and culture in the land of the two rivers claims a small victory.<\/p>\n<p>On the heels of April\u2019s Al-Wasiti fine arts festival in Baghdad \u2014 initiated in 1972 with long hiatuses due to sanctions and more recently to mass anti-government protests \u2014 Qasim Sabti, Iraq\u2019s elder statesman of the art world, holds forth in the garden of his lovely al-Hewar Gallery in Wazeriya.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSince last December,\u201d says Sabti, the long-time president of the Iraqi Artists society, \u201cBaghdad has seen an explosion of new exhibitions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"&quot;Gilgamesh Contemporary&quot; Trailer \u00a9 Asmaa Alanbari &amp; Layth Sidiq 2022\" width=\"750\" height=\"422\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AYMncx0rujE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>After the well-known Akkad Gallery closed its iconic Abu Nawas location in 2011, owner Haider Hashem re-opened the gallery in a new location in Karradeh this past March, not far from The Gallery, Baghdad\u2019s biggest new art space that opened last fall under the auspices of the Al Handal group. At the same time, two prominent private collectors with a wealth of 20th and 21st century Iraqi art opened Baghdada Gallery on Alnadhal street, between Bab al Shorji and Karradeh, in the offices of a Catholic church. Meanwhile Anaween Gallery was opened by a local filmmaker in 2021 in Adhimiya.<\/p>\n<p>Now galleries are open in the evening for the first time in years due to increased security and Karradeh has replaced Abu Nawas as the new gallery neighborhood.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s certainly happy news that Baghdad is now experiencing more art shows than car bombs, especially coming from Sabti, a preeminent artist, gallerist, and survivor of Iraq\u2019s fickle fortunes. The wily bohemian \u2014 who lives, works, and exhibits in a 1920s villa once owned by Iraq\u2019s minister of defense under King Faisal \u2014 is a shrewd businessman as well as an artist. When I first met him in the wake of the 2003 invasion, he boasted that both Paul Bremer and Saddam Hussein had been visitors to his gallery. \u201cThey were both here,\u201d he recounted. \u201cThey came and ate mazgouf with me in the garden.\u201d In many ways, the al-Hewar Gallery is a crucible of Iraqi culture.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_8571\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8571\" style=\"width: 900px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-8571\" src=\"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/men-and-women-students-at-fine-arts-college.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/men-and-women-students-at-fine-arts-college.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/men-and-women-students-at-fine-arts-college-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/men-and-women-students-at-fine-arts-college-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/men-and-women-students-at-fine-arts-college-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/men-and-women-students-at-fine-arts-college-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-8571\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students at Baghdad&#8217;s College of Fine Arts (photo Hadani Ditmars).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Then a popular post-invasion spot for European diplomats and U.N. workers, the gallery \u2014 located a few minutes from the College of Fine Arts \u2014 attracted dozens of young artists for afternoon tea in the ad hoc garden caf\u00e9. But as the reality of post-invasion life grew darker, there were fewer and fewer buyers; right across the street was the Turkish embassy, which would be bombed not long after my first visit.<\/p>\n<p>The artwork then was still very much in a decorative vein. A would-be Iraqi Chagall exhibited her painting of a lively gypsy dance. Sabti\u2019s own work featured fantastical creatures dredged up from Sumerian mythology. The only works that offered even a hint of darkness were an abstract oil painting with suggestions of flames and smoke, and a sculpture of spy-like figures having a clandestine meeting. When pressed, Sabti offered a cryptic interpretation. \u201cWe artists now are like a man holding a dove between two fires \u2014 one beside us and one in the distance. We cannot fight either fire, so we\u2019d rather play with the dove.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>People came to his gallery, said Sabti, to escape the violent reality of daily life and to celebrate the survival of Iraqi culture rather than to be reminded of the struggle to survive. I even staged and performed in a\u00a0 concert there in October of 2003 with Iraqi cellist Karim Wasfi, a fundraiser for a project called \u201cgarden of peace\u201d \u2014 aimed at assisting displaced women and children \u2014 that would ultimately be foiled by security concerns. But exploding cars and deadly statistics did not seem to interrupt Sabti\u2019s genteel routine in the least. The al-Hewar stayed open through the worst of the troubles and even staged an exhibition in the summer of 2004 called the Abu Gulag Freedom Park.<\/p>\n<p>The history of Iraqi art has been inexorably tied to its politics. Under King Faisal, in spite of the famed Iraqi pioneers like Faeq Hassan, there was a trend toward inoffensive traditional decorative artwork, pictures of horses and the like for wealthy clients. When Abdul Qarim Kassem came to power, strong, more overtly political works like Jawad Salim\u2019s Tahrir Square \u2014 also a rallying point for recent protests \u2014 were born. A vogue for public art and murals gave way to a period of art that glorified Saddam. Apolitical abstract expressionism lasted for a very long time in Iraq after it had fallen out of favor in the West.<\/p>\n<p>But the Iran\/Iraq war, says Sabti, \u201cshook the soul of many young artists.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_8570\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8570\" style=\"width: 900px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-8570\" src=\"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Qasim-al-Sabti-left-holds-court-at-Al-Hewar-Gallery-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Qasim-al-Sabti-left-holds-court-at-Al-Hewar-Gallery-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Qasim-al-Sabti-left-holds-court-at-Al-Hewar-Gallery-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Qasim-al-Sabti-left-holds-court-at-Al-Hewar-Gallery-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Qasim-al-Sabti-left-holds-court-at-Al-Hewar-Gallery-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Qasim-al-Sabti-left-holds-court-at-Al-Hewar-Gallery-1320x880.jpg 1320w, https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Qasim-al-Sabti-left-holds-court-at-Al-Hewar-Gallery.jpg 1400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-8570\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Qasim Sabti (left) holds court at Al Hewar Gallery (photo Hadani Ditmars).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>While many artists were drafted to the frontlines, the era does have some memorable moments in terms of public art, notably Ismail Fatah al Turk\u2019s 1983 Martyrs\u2019 Monument \u2014 an elegant turquoise dome, evocative of the Abbasid era, split in two and mounted at the center of an artificial lake. The iconic sculpture was preceded by 1982\u2019s Monument to an Unknown Soldier, by Italian architect Marcello D\u2019Olivo, based on a conceptual design by Iraqi sculptor Khaled al Rahal and 1989\u2019s Victory Arch, a pair of giant arms with crossed swords featuring the helmets of captured Iranian soldiers at the base. The official name of the triumphal arches, the Swords of Q\u0101disiyyah, is an allusion to the seventh century battle when Arab armies defeated Sassanid Iran and captured their capital Ctesiphone, where an arch marks the entrance to the ancient Imperial Palace. It was designed in close collaboration with Saddam Hussein first by Al-Rahal and then, after his death by Mohammed Ghani Hikmat.<\/p>\n<p>Ironically, it was the end of the war and the beginning of the embargo era that marked a cultural renaissance of sorts, as artists returned from war to sanctions and economic collapse.<\/p>\n<p>When the al-Hewar gallery opened in 1992, it was only the second private gallery after the Orfali center in what had been a heavily state-subsidized scene. \u201cA movement of Iraqi artists grew from this place,\u201d says Sabti. \u201cArtists made more than state employees and had lots of time to paint.\u201d The waiting list for a show was over a year and exhibitions enjoyed long runs.<\/p>\n<p>During the embargo, notes Sabti, \u201cthere was suddenly a big market for Iraqi art\u201d \u2014 albeit mainly from UN employees who administered the infamous oil-for-food program, and whose bloated salaries were taken from Iraqi oil revenues, while average Iraqis were allotted a miserable daily subsistence. Still, dozens of new galleries opened in the late \u201890s and early 2000s as foreigners snatched up Iraqi art.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_8578\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8578\" style=\"width: 534px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-8578 \" src=\"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/art-on-display-at-Al-Hewar-683x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"534\" height=\"945\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-8578\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Art on display at Al Hewar (photo courtesy Qasim Sabti).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>After the 2003 invasion, security issues forced most of the new galleries to close down, the al-Hewar excepted. The al Wasiti festival, named for the famed 13<sup>th<\/sup> century Baghdadi artist, vanished during the embargo and enjoyed a single iteration in 2010. It resurfaced in 2017 and 2018, but was postponed in 2019 and 2021 due to the anti-government protest movement which in turn produced its own art. The Turkish Restaurant building \u2014 itself a bombed out survivor of 2003 \u2014 has now become a secular shrine, full of hopeful murals and angry graffiti, perched behind Tahrir Square.<\/p>\n<p>The current art \u201cexplosion\u201d Sabti mentions is the happy result of a hybrid marriage of state support and private sponsorship; a revival of the traditional government funding enjoyed under Saddam\u2019s regime and a new post-invasion neoliberalism \u2014 Iraqi style \u2014 with a liberal helping of state capitalism. Private bankers with links to the National Bank of Iraq helped renovate the historic al Mutannabi street and nearby al-Rasheed street\/Midan Square. While these areas once shut down at midday, now bookshops and caf\u00e9s stay open until the wee hours, and artists and musicians throng the streets. The al-Rashid theatre has been restored and new murals of prominent writers and artists commissioned by Baghdad\u2019s mayor Alaa Maan last January can now be found throughout the city.<\/p>\n<p>The re-opening of the Iraqi Museum in March after a three-year hiatus due to protests and pandemic issues, also bodes well, as does the return of cultural tourism, thanks to a new visa on demand.<\/p>\n<p>Zaha Hadid\u2019s gorgeous and long-awaited National Bank building is restoring some architectural panache to the Jadriyah end of Abu Nawas.\u00a0 But its positioning between the newly revamped Hotel Babylon and the headquarters of a rather notorious Iranian backed Shia militia speak to ongoing troubles in a place where many gallerists are forced to pay local militias to stay in business. Meanwhile the Station, a co-working space owned by the Al Handal group with ties to both the national and private banks, who recently opened The Gallery, is also sponsored by UNESCO.<\/p>\n<p>The relative success of the recent Al-Wasiti festival \u2014 which brought several prominent diaspora artists to Baghdad as well as the important Lebanese gallerist Saleh Barakat \u2014 yet was hastily and haphazardly put together in two weeks, is also a promising sign. It followed the appointment of artist Fakher Mohammed as head of the arts section at the Ministry of Culture, a post previously occupied by a technocrat, not an artist. Mohammed worked with funding from the Association of Private Banks to renovate the Museum of Modern Art on Haifa Street in time for the festival.<\/p>\n<p>An exhibition on display during the festival featured almost 100 pieces of art that were looted from \u00a0the \u00a0museum (or Saddam Arts Center as it was then known) and since recovered.<\/p>\n<p>Tracked down after they were trafficked in Switzerland, the U.S., Qatar and neighboring Jordan, the sculptures and paintings, dating between the 1940s and 1960s, were displayed in a cavernous space that was once a restaurant.<\/p>\n<p>They included important works by Fayiq Hassan and Jawad Salim. One piece by Salim, depicting a woman with a slender neck and raised arms and known as the \u201cmaternal statue\u201d is reputed to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars. It was discovered randomly at a Baghdad antique shop by sculptor Taha Wahib, who bought it for just $200 and returned it to the Ministry.<\/p>\n<p>Another exhibition showcasing contemporary artists included many prominent artists from the diaspora, among them Ahmed Al-Bahrani, an Iraqi sculptor based in Doha showing in Baghdad for the first time in a decade; Walid Rashid al Qaisi, a conceptual artist working with \u00a0mixed media normally based in Jordan; and Sweden-based abstract painter Karim Sadoun.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_8572\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8572\" style=\"width: 551px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-8572\" src=\"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Riyadh-Ghenea-in-his-Baghdad-studio.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"551\" height=\"936\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-8572\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Riyadh Ghenea in his Baghdad studio (photo Hadani Ditmars).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Also included were Mohammed Al-Kinani, head of the visual arts department at the College of Fine Arts, who works in acrylic and mixed media; Baghdad based expressionist painter Wadhah Madhi; and Iraqi-Canadian artist Riyadh Ghenea (formerly known as Riyadh Hashim), who took his late mother\u2019s surname recently as he worked on a show dedicated to her, evoking the divine feminine and Sumerian tradition. A highlight was the work of abstract painter Ahmed Al Said, an abstract painter who left for Sweden in 2011 and returned last year who has been chronicling changes in public spaces in Baghdad since 2003.<\/p>\n<p>Young up and coming artists also had their work featured during the Al Wasiti festival, including Aladin Mohammed \u2014 known for his surrealist explorations of Iraqi folklore. His work has also been shown at the Akkad and The Gallery, along with work by abstract painter Haider Fakher and surrealist Noor Abd. The three will also be part of a group show \u2014 still the prevailing model in a country with a longer history of state-sponsored art than private galleries and solo exhibitions \u2014 sponsored by the Iraqi Artists Society in June 2022.<\/p>\n<p>Mentorship of young artists by established ones continues to be an important part of the Iraqi art scene. At the Bronze Gallery, right across the street from the College of Fine Arts in Wazeriya, there is a current exhibition of pottery by septuagenarian Akram Nadji that has been popular with students.<\/p>\n<p>Educational opportunities with diaspora artists continue. London based Hana Mallalah just had an open studio at the Ministry of Culture \u2014 the first time in many years that a diaspora artist has done this in Baghdad \u2014 and Nadim Kufi, an Amsterdam-based artist, will be doing an open studio later in May.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve been back in Iraq since 2011,\u201d says Sabti\u2019s friend and colleague Riyadh Ghenea.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen you had to wait for months to see a show. Now I can\u2019t keep up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But who is buying all this new art, I ask?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe nouveau riche,\u201d replies Sabti without missing a beat, \u201care the new collectors.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey want to invest in art as an alternative to keeping US dollars in their pocket. Now because the economy is up and down, they think art is a better investment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But the domestic market is tricky for Iraqi artists, says Ghenea, as the prices are so low. \u201cI sell most of my work in Vancouver, Jordan and the Gulf,\u201d he notes. He recently participated in a group show in Amman and will soon begin a residency in Jeddah.<\/p>\n<p>Ghenea has just begun work as a curator at The Gallery, Baghdad\u2019s biggest and newest art space in Karradeh that will soon expand to double its size, after a successful solo show there last fall. He refused to sell any of his work there as the offers were too low. While he could make a better living in the West, he says, he stays on in Baghdad because of his love for teaching at the Fine Arts College.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have a duty to bring my international experience to Baghdad,\u201d he says, noting that\u00a0 many art school teachers are still operating from a curriculum frozen in the 1980s and inspired primarily by the Iraqi canon of \u201cpioneers\u201d like Faeq Hassan.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_8574\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8574\" style=\"width: 515px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-8574\" src=\"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/abd-Alrahman-Resan-in-front-of-his-work-at-the-Bronze-Gallery-across-from-College-of-Fine-Arts.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"515\" height=\"838\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-8574\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Abd Alrahman Resan in front of his work at the Bronze Gallery across from College of Fine Arts (photo Hadani Ditmars).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cI ask my students to think critically,\u201d says Ghenea,\u00a0 \u201cnot just follow rules and imitate other artists. I tell them \u2018try to be yourself.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His students, says Ghenea, are often more aware of what is going on in the art world now than their professors, making use of social media and YouTube to learn new techniques.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe new generation thinks outside the box,\u201d he explains. \u201cThey photograph and post their work on Instagram and Facebook so they don\u2019t need galleries.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In fact, Iraqi art has found a new life in the digital realm. Not just in terms of initiatives like <a href=\"http:\/\/www.virtualmuseumiraq.cnr.it\/noflash.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Virtual Museum of Iraq<\/a> but also in the way that social media has contributed to narrowing the ever-present gap between Iraqi artists at home and in the diaspora.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow Iraqi artists in London can easily exchange ideas with colleagues in Baghdad,\u201d says Ghenea.<\/p>\n<p>While established UK-based artists like Hannah Mallalah are physically bridging the distance between \u201cexile\u201d and \u201chome,\u201d with frequent visits to Iraq, young up and coming artists in the diaspora are making liberal use of new technologies to create evocative art.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.alanbari.co.uk\/\">Gilgamesh Contemporary<\/a>,\u201d a new multimedia show in London, is one example.This eco-feminist take on the epic of Gilgamesh, by London based Iraqi artist Asmaa Alanbari, reimagines the ancient story as a fable about climate\u00a0change, which is now a greater threat to Iraqi heritage sites than ISIS as desertification and subsequent dams and flooding threaten dozens of ancient sites, and dust storms paralyze the nation.<\/p>\n<p>A collage of images integrates cuneiform script from the original tale with images of ocean pollution, \u00a0contemporary London, and social media footage of ISIS destroying Assyrian statues, at once linking tangible and intangible heritage, cultural loss, and displacement. Original music by Iraqi composer Layth Sadiq and live accompaniment by Iraqi oud player Ehsan Emam and performance\u00a0by dancer Yen-Ching Lin (formerly with the Akram Khan Company) complete the mise-en-sc\u00e8ne.<\/p>\n<p>Still the virtual is a pale apparition of the actual and the atmosphere of Baghdad forms a vital part of Iraqi artistry.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am inspired by this city,\u201d says Ghenea. \u201cBy its smells, colors, textures, its history and its crowds.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd this is still the soul of Baghdad, this place,\u201d says Sabti. As young art students and nightingales alike flock to its spacious galleries and lush gardens, it\u2019s hard to disagree. Like Iraqi artists, the gallery has weathered three decades of war and occupation, remaining an enduring symbol of beauty and hope.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hadani Ditmars, fresh from a return trip to Iraq, surveys the burgeoning plastic arts scene.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":8569,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,51],"tags":[139,305,433,889,890,1417,1480],"coauthors":[1960],"class_list":["post-8566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art","category-tmr-weekly","tag-al-mutanabbi-street","tag-baghdad","tag-college-of-fine-arts","tag-iraqi-artists","tag-iraqi-artists-society","tag-qasim-sabti","tag-riyadh-ghenea","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.8 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - 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