special projects & activities in progress

Asma'ullah al-Hussna: The 99 Names of Allah

A ceramic project based on Asma’ullah al-Hussna: The 99 Names of Allah as referred to in the holy Quran.  I am in the process of making 99 clay cylinder seals (the earliest form of print making invented in Mesopotamia more than 5000 years BC; a mirror image is engraved into a stone or clay cylinder. Once fired, this can be rolled out onto clay surfaces to achieve specific motifs in relief quickly and effectively).

Each cylinder is inscribed with one of the names of Allah. My aim is to produce ceramic forms that eventually incorporate all the 99 names of Allah. This project is in response to a comment made by a visitor attending the Issam El Said exhibition at ayagallery.  She purchased one of his graphic works illustrating the word Allah and as we went on to discuss the artist, his influences and inspirations, Islam being at the centre, she questioned whether their could have been a connection between the 99 Names of Allah and the 9/11 twin-tower attacks!

This took me by utter surprise and frankly, I was shocked with even the notion of such an idea! She explained that it was her fascination with codes & numbers that led her to question such a possibility and that she had even contacted the police to alert them at the time.  It is the ambitions of greedy politicians and ignorant minds that has become a force for unprecedented evil. It is ever so sad and disturbing to see ordinary peace loving people turn to such suspicion and skepticism; Islam is and has always been, peace, harmony and respect for all living things.

Al-Rahman Al-Rahim (The Merciful, The Compassionate)   37x29cm 2005 Private Collection The first two names of Allah, are the first two completed pots in this series.  Whether I will be able to fulfil the ambition of making all 99 pots remains to be seen! In the meantime however, I shall continue to communicate peace and beauty through art and pray that my heart never be deprived of love.

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Weeping Palms: Stolen Childhoods

A series of paintings sparked off with the war on Iraq: "At the beginning I was painting small works using water colour on paper.  With the problems compounding and Iraq escalating into further violence, chaos and disorder, I turned to larger works using oil on canvas or wood.  Trauma and tragedy permeates life back home at its core.  Nothing has been spared.  Even our precious Date Palms suffer.  Despite them being worn and withered, they remain resilient, tall, proud and ever so graceful.  Many of these palms I have given the name of an Iraqi woman, in tribute to her ongoing struggle and enormous sacrifice.  So, as long as women widow, our Palms weep and our children suffer, my Weeping Palms: Stolen Childhoods will remain in progress... as I desperately try to relay their stories and capture an innocence and beauty... forever lost. 

Kites & Shattered Dreams 

Kites & Shattered Dreams is a series of paintings which I began in 2007 in continuation  of       Weeping Palms: Stolen Childhoods. The entire body of  works will be presented in a major solo-exhibition at ayagallery end 2008.

International Network for Contemporary Iraqi Art (iNCiA)

Apart from my own work, the ambition of bringing the artistic achievements of my peers to a broader western audience has always run alongside the pursuit of my own personal accomplishments.  Driven by a passionate desire to bring together Iraq’s scattered ‘talents in the wind’ and communicate her positive and creative energies Strokes of Genius: Contemporary Iraqi Art (SOG) was born; a collective labour of love with the commitment of Ulrike al-Khamis, Rashad Selim, Hana Mal Allah, Sadik Alfraji and sincere others who shared our vision and believed in our aims.  Renamed iNCiA, in the course of 6 years we were able to mount a ground breaking Exhibition that toured the UK & the US from 2000-3, the publication of the SOG Book and the first ever website to encompass the works of Iraqi artists world-wide.  iNCiA has proven to be a valuable leading reference on Iraqi art today and continues to be.

ayagallery

I continue to promote Iraqi art through ayagallery, which I established with my husband the architect Ali Mousawi in London 2002. Communicating visually, spiritually and peacefully through the profound and universal language of Art ayagallery is dedicated to exhibiting and promoting contemporary art predominently from Iraq, but also from the Islamic world at large. In the lead-up to the war, our opening show Intact: Iraqi Art, Iraqi Spirit featured a rare collection of works by Iraq’s pioneering generation and their successors. Al-Iraq by Hamid al-Attar coincided with the onset of war and Memories of a Golden City: Baghdad by Sadik Alfraji soon followed as did other shows including Expressions of Hope and Transitions launched just after the war also Issam El-Said: Artist, Scholar & Thinker. In follow up to the British Museum’s recent Word into Art exhibition (May - Sept 2006) the exhibition Words…Fragmented…Unbroken was organised. In all, these challenging and exhilarating experiences have become for me an art form in the making and a true source of enlightenment

Key Iraqi Art
Information is being compiled and will be uploaded shortly. 

Dictionary of Contemporary Iraqi Artist
Information is being compiled and will be uploaded shortly.

Iraqi Women Art
Information is being compiled and will be uploaded shortly.