Interview 

Maqams on the Digeridoo: Oud player and composer Rahim al Haj

Rahim al Haj is a composer and Oud player based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Born and raised in Baghdad, he studied at the Institute of Music under Munir Bashir, and toured the world as part of the Baghdad Ensemble before fleeing Iraq in 1991. He speaks to RUYA about his early career as a musician and how he fuses the…
Interview 

“A half-finished Iraqi flag”: Baghdad-based photographer Ayman al-Amiri

Ayman al-Amiri (b. 1995, Baghdad) is well known among young photographers and filmmakers in Baghdad. He was 8 years old when the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003, and his photographs reflect daily life after the conflict.  Ayman’s work has been presented at international film festivals in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and New York and appears in RUYA’s Welcome to Iraq…
Essay 

The Child Tempered by War: Julian Stallabrass on the work of photographer Ayman al-Amiri

Art historian and curator Julian Stallabrass writes about Baghdad-based photographer Ayman al-Amiri’s series Homage to Tarkowsky (2013). The 19 year old photographer is currently working on a documentary series produced by RUYA. In the opening to Tarkovsky’s film, Ivan’s Childhood, which is set during the German invasion of the Soviet Union, a very beautiful boy runs…