Essay 

The Iraqi city and architecture in Latif Al Ani’ s work: yesterday’s modernity, a model for the future?

Architectural historian Caecilia Pieri reflects on photographer Latif Al Ani’s work of the 50s and 60s, documenting the modern expansion of Baghdad and Iraq’s cities. Pieri is an associate researcher at the French Institute of the Near East, and the author of Baghdad: la construction d’une capitale moderne 1914-1960 (2015) and Baghdad Arts Deco (2003) among other publications. Latif al Ani…
News, Portfolio 

Artist Hussein Shabeeb on identity and crossing borders.

Who are you before they ask: “who are you”? How did you survive the events of the world to get here? Stand in your corridor and give me your passport Show me your eyes, smile Thank you – Fares Haram for iPass, 2015. In the dark projection room of an arts centre in Baghdad, a slideshow…
Event 

Ruya Lab #1: The sound art project Baghdad Wahid

Water dripping from a pipe, someone’s wife snoring at night, a mother singing an Iraqi lullaby, drumming and songs of mourning to commemorate the death of Imam Hussein. These sounds range from the mundane to the sacred, but to the individuals who recorded them last month, they reflect Baghdad – its past and its present.…
Interview 

Mermaids, Myths and Women Who Collect Salt: Interview with the artist Dhikra Sarsam

Dhikra Sarsam (b. Baghdad 1965) is a documentary film-maker and children’s illustrator. Her colourful collages and children’s illustrations recount local and religious tales, famous poems, fairy tales and the Arabian Nights.  She has worked on a number of documentaries, including Rahma Zainab and others, about under-age marriage in Iraq and is an active member of…