Unvanquished

March 7, 2023 12:34 PM

On Iraq’s art under two decades of occupation. An often overlooked aspect of this story is how these artists had worked to develop a sense of appreciation among local audiences, who were being introduced to a new definition of art spread by a heterogeneous global modernism, the paradigms of which were distinct from those of preexisting traditions. They also inaugurated educational programs, galleries and art museums, publications, and other modalities of displaying, disseminating, and convening around artistic production. These efforts had a tremendous impact not only in Iraq but throughout the region. One of the catastrophic repercussions of the invasion was that it undermined decades of that labor.
posted by Ahmad Khani (3 comments total)

Without minimizing the struggles of Iraqis around the world, it is the severity of what took place in Iraq following the US invasion that defies measure or comprehension. The task of thoroughly taking stock of Iraq’s tribulations since 2003 is daunting, if not impossible; and to limit a discussion of the occupation’s repercussions to one field only, such as art, is to risk trivializing the grave consequences of an event that continues to haunt Iraqis today. To mark the twentieth anniversary of that occupation—one of the most brazen neocolonial adventures in recent history, and one that is far from over, despite official American rhetoric—and to understand its impact on Iraq’s art, we must situate the latter in a broader context. And there is so much to remember: that hundreds of thousands (some estimates put the number at well beyond a million) of innocent civilians have been murdered in the post-invasion mayhem; that Iraq, in addition to being the object of American aggression, has become a battleground for proxy wars among regional powers and is prone to frequent attacks, including suicide bombings and kidnappings, by extremist groups; that the country is now rife with human rights violations; that conditions for ethnic and religious minorities are dire; that gender equality (as noted earlier) is declining; that a whole generation of vulnerable orphans is growing up without proper support; that, in a nation enormously wealthy in natural resources, there is now widespread poverty, rampant corruption, high unemployment rates, and a dearth of basic services like electricity; that this once fertile land is running out of water and experiencing vast environmental degradation, soaring temperatures, intensifying droughts, and frequent sandstorms (induced by the eradication of the land’s green cover and the lack of responsible protective measures under the inept post-2003 government). And these are only some of the better-known travails wreaked by the invasion.

posted by Ahmad Khani at 12:45 PM on March 7, 2023 [4 favorites]

Hanaa Malallah's work is particularly affecting. Shroud IV in particular is hard to look at / hard to turn away from

To physically taste war is completely different than to experience it second-hand. The first lesson taught by physically tasting war is that ruination is the essence of all being: Death has no meaning and anything solid can be reduced to nothing in seconds. The learning of this process of vanishing, this morphing of matter to dust, of something into nothing, has led me to conclude that ruination, or destruction is hidden de facto in the phenomenon of figuration. Thus, for the last five years explored the space located between figuration and abstraction, between existing and vanishing, a concept which for me also holds deep spiritual meaning.

It is well known that the technical aspects of my practice include the burning, distressing and obliterating of material: I have termed this Ruins Technique. Clearly, this technique owes its existence to the lethal face of war.· This does not mean that I am reproducing the idea of war. Instead I am utilizing its intrinsically destructive process to engender the visceral experience of the reality of war irrespective of its geographic/political particular.
posted by chavenet at 3:27 PM on March 7, 2023 [3 favorites]

Thanks for this post. A thoughtful introduction and context. The samples included in the piece are each quite affecting.
posted by latkes at 6:20 PM on March 7, 2023