Baghdad exhibition puts 28 paintings of war and Gaza on show

BAGHDAD — The artist Ali Aliwi is showing 28 works at the French Institute in Baghdad, drawing on expressionism, abstraction and surrealism to depict war, bloodshed and suffering, among them a series on Gaza.

“Color is the primary source of attraction that creates dialogue and direct interaction with the viewer,” Aliwi told 964media. Most of his work carries political themes and expresses pain and appeals for help, he said, including a connected series on Gaza that begins with a dream and ends with a victim. Other pieces show Iraq’s landscape and the aftermath of Islamic State violence.

The dominance of red represents “a revolution and a scream,” he said, coming from his sense that the world has become heavily armed and is moving toward more killing. His depictions of women and children in Gaza come from what he called an artist’s humanitarian responsibility to speak for people in pain.

Aliwi came to Baghdad from Babil and this is his fourteenth exhibition at the institute. He has shown in Egypt, Lebanon, Istanbul, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, and his work has reached halls in Europe and the United States.

The exhibition sets warm colours, red and orange, against cooler blues and greys while drawing on Iraqi heritage and popular aesthetics, said artist Hani Mohi al-Din.