Event 

Winter Baghdad Exhibition at the International Zone

Ahead of the Winter Baghdad Exhibition in the International Zone on December 17 2015, Furat al Jamil, director of Ruya’s Baghdad office, writes: As part of our ongoing efforts to support artists in Iraq we’ve collaborated with the Embassy of Canada to host an exhibition of recent work by Iraqi artists, inside the International Zone.…
Essay 

The Iraqi city and architecture in Latif Al Ani’ s work: yesterday’s modernity, a model for the future?

Architectural historian Caecilia Pieri reflects on photographer Latif Al Ani’s work of the 50s and 60s, documenting the modern expansion of Baghdad and Iraq’s cities. Pieri is an associate researcher at the French Institute of the Near East, and the author of Baghdad: la construction d’une capitale moderne 1914-1960 (2015) and Baghdad Arts Deco (2003) among other publications. Latif al Ani…
News, Portfolio 

Artist Hussein Shabeeb on identity and crossing borders.

Who are you before they ask: “who are you”? How did you survive the events of the world to get here? Stand in your corridor and give me your passport Show me your eyes, smile Thank you – Fares Haram for iPass, 2015. In the dark projection room of an arts centre in Baghdad, a slideshow…
Event 

Ruya Lab #1: The sound art project Baghdad Wahid

Water dripping from a pipe, someone’s wife snoring at night, a mother singing an Iraqi lullaby, drumming and songs of mourning to commemorate the death of Imam Hussein. These sounds range from the mundane to the sacred, but to the individuals who recorded them last month, they reflect Baghdad – its past and its present.…