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Interview 

Dodging Car Bombs: Kadhim Nwir

The abstract canvases of Kadhim Nwir (b. 1967, Qadisiyah, Iraq), which were first exhibited at the Pavilion of Iraq at the 55th Venice Biennale, reflect urban life through a combination of distressed colour and graffiti-like drawing. Stencilled letters and numbers sometimes convey clear messages – “IRAQ”, “2003” – or they embody a meaning known only…
 

Film, love and dangerous liaisons: Hareth Al Homaam

Young filmmaker Hareth Al Homam (b.1987) took part in the Pavilion of Iraq at the 55th Venice Biennale. His short film, Buzz, exemplifies the stilted, mediated nature of communications between the sexes in modern Iraq in spite of the advent of social media. We follow the short story of a young man and a young woman…
 

Kurdish Elegies: Cheeman Ismaeel

Cheeman Ismaeel (b. 1966, Sulaymaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan) is a painter who applies her decorative style not only to canvases but also to household objects, such as a television, a clock, an oil heater and a lunchbox. The proposition is refreshingly personal and unpretentious, blurring the line conventionally drawn between fine and decorative art. Her attempt to…
 

Tomouh, fathers and godfathers: Jamal Penjweny

  Which artist has influenced your work? When I was young I discovered a book about Michelangelo. I grew up in Kurdistan and never really went to school. I looked at Michelangelo’s work and made my own sculptures. As I grew older, I realised that art was personal and had to come from within. I…