Interview 

Mermaids, Myths and Women Who Collect Salt: Interview with the artist Dhikra Sarsam

Dhikra Sarsam (b. Baghdad 1965) is a documentary film-maker and children’s illustrator. Her colourful collages and children’s illustrations recount local and religious tales, famous poems, fairy tales and the Arabian Nights.  She has worked on a number of documentaries, including Rahma Zainab and others, about under-age marriage in Iraq and is an active member of…
Interview 

Objects that tell a story: product designer Hozan Zangana

Ruya Foundation spoke to Hozan Zangana, an Iraqi-Kurdish product designer based in the Netherlands. Zangana’s series Haft Sin, a set of plates and bowls he created for the festival of Nawruz, was on display at Design Days Dubai 2015. His latest collection, Shaping from Intuition recently launched at Dutch Design Week. What influenced the series Haft Sin,…
Video 

Video: Panel Discussion on art, conflict and Iraq

Ruya Foundation hosted a panel discussion on art, conflict and Iraq as part of its programme for Pavilion of Iraq at the 56th Venice Biennale. Held at the Scuola Grande dei Carmini the panel examined the role of art in conflict, and the ways in which artists’ contributions to the subject can effect change. The…
 

Prince Claus Fund: drawing and other art therapy methods

In March 2015 Ruya Foundation launched the first drama therapy project in Iraq, with support from the Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development. Our diary about the project continues: During out daily meetings with the girls of Adhimiya Flowers Orphanage, we provided wider methods of art therapy, such as writing and drawing, since not all of them…