English

Interview

My father’s colour periods: Interview with conceptual artist Hiwa K

Hiwa K (b.1975, Sulaimaniya) is a conceptual artist based in Berlin. He grew up in Sulaimaniya, and fled Iraq in 1996, travelling on foot across the mountains to the Iranian border, through to Turkey, and finally settling in Europe. Over the years, his work has reflected on a wide range of topics, including the experience of immigration, and more…

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…

Interview

From the air, I saw things in a different way: photographer Latif al Ani reflects on his life and work.

Latif Al Ani (b. 1932) is considered the founding father of Iraqi photography and his extensive documentary career spans from the late 1950s to the late 1970s, when it became impossible to photograph in public due to the increasingly authoritarian atmosphere of the Saddam regime and the Iran-Iraq War. Working with the Iraqi Petroleum Magazine…