On 2 December, the Ruya Foundation co-sponsored the Iraqi premiere of the award-winning documentary film Iraqi Odyssey (2014). The film traces the epic journey of the filmmaker Samir’s own family who left Iraq more than half a century ago, and are now scattered across the world. Samir (b.1955, Iraq) is a Swiss-Iraqi film director, writer and…

Ali Al Tajer is an Iraqi painter and art historian. Trained as a draughtsman at the College of Fine Arts at the University of Baghdad, Al Tajer worked as an illustrator for magazines and newspapers in Iraq. Al Tajer’s academic research was focused on the portrayal of ancients myths, human and animal motifs in the…

Rashad Salim is an Iraqi-German artist and designer based in London. His project, Ark Re-Imagined, aims to build a functional and floating vessel that re-imagines Noah’s Ark, using indigenous ancient boat making techniques. The artist has been working with local craftspeople across Southern Iraq in this project. In May 2016, Salim was awarded a grant…