Event 

Art, Conflict and Iraq: Panel Discussion at 56th Venice Biennale

Ruya Foundation hosted a panel discussion on art, conflict and Iraq as part of its programme for 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 speakers were from a…
 

Iraq Pavilion Vernissage and Opening Week

Ruya Foundation hosted a reception for the opening of Invisible Beauty, the National Pavilion of Iraq at the 56th Venice Biennale last week. Over 600 people attended, where they met the artists, Salam Atta Sabri, Akam Shex Hadi, Latif al Ani and Rabab Ghazoul, who presented their works for the first time at the Venice Biennale.…
Interview 

Community activism and the Chilcot Inquiry: Iraq Pavilion artist Rabab Ghazoul

Rabab Ghazoul (b. 1970) is a visual artist working with participatory and performative elements, based in Cardiff, Wales. Her work investigates the causes and effects of political and social structures and how ordinary people negotiate the political. Her work takes many forms, as video, installation, text, performance, or public realm intervention and encounter. All of…
Interview 

When peace loses meaning: Pavilion artist Akam Shex Hadi

Akam Shex Hadi (b. 1985) is a photographer from Sulaymaniyah in Iraqi Kurdistan. His practice can be understood as staged photography that nevertheless has a strong documentary aspect. Shex Hadi has made a new work for the Pavilion that deals directly with Isis and the fate of Iraqi refugees and internally displaced people. For this…