Essay 

Themes of Fatherland #1: The Witness

In a recent interview, the Iraqi-Kurdish Serwan Baran said of his new exhibition for the Iraq Pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale: “I want viewers to be witnesses to the crime, to understand what it means to have lived a lifetime of conflict.” The artist’s new commission for the exhibition The Last Meal (2019) depicts…
Interview 

Imperial Race: A New Board Game About Iraq’s Ancient Heritage

A couple of months ago, the annual Global Grad Show in Dubai showcased innovative student-led projects from design and technology schools across the world. The Amman-based Iraqi designer and artist Durrah Alomar, a recent graduate of the German Jordanian University, presented Imperial Race, a new board game that teaches players about Iraq’s ancient heritage. Alomar…
Essay 

Rematerialising Mosul’s Textile History

Dr Zena Kamash is a Senior Lecturer in Roman Archaeology and Art, Department of Classics, Royal Holloway University of London. One of the (many) things that has always fascinated me about Neo-Assyrian reliefs is the intricate details of the clothes and their decoration; I could spend, and have spent, hours gazing at them. It is…