Interview 

Wafaa Bilal on drones, the Hudson River and why art should agitate.

Wafaa Bilal is a New York-based Iraqi artist, working with mixed media from installations to photography and digital arts. His project Virtual Jihadi (2008) recreated first person shooters that the US army used to train their staff. He talks to Ruya about his days as a student in Baghdad, life as an artist in New York, and…
Interview 

“Making do and getting by”: Basra-based painter Hashim Taeeh

Hashim Taeeh (b.1948, Basra) is a painter based in Basra. His cardboard sculptures, in collaboration with the artist Yasseen Wami, were part of Welcome to Iraq, the Iraq Pavilion exhibition at the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013.  The modest material and basic, minimalist style they prefer are entirely at odds with a popular taste in…
Interview 

Maqams on the Digeridoo: Oud player and composer Rahim al Haj

Rahim al Haj is a composer and Oud player based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Born and raised in Baghdad, he studied at the Institute of Music under Munir Bashir, and toured the world as part of the Baghdad Ensemble before fleeing Iraq in 1991. He speaks to RUYA about his early career as a musician and how he fuses the…
Interview 

“A half-finished Iraqi flag”: Baghdad-based photographer Ayman al-Amiri

Ayman al-Amiri (b. 1995, Baghdad) is well known among young photographers and filmmakers in Baghdad. He was 8 years old when the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003, and his photographs reflect daily life after the conflict.  Ayman’s work has been presented at international film festivals in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and New York and appears in RUYA’s Welcome to Iraq…