Personal Protestations: Hayv Kahraman and the Iraqi Diaspora

Identity, a notion that plagues the modern production of non-Western art, is not without implications in the contemporary art scene. While the complexities of representing identity are very much in flux in Iraq, the current political situation has introduced two strong themes into contemporary visual production: trauma and loss. The current exhibition by Hayv Kahraman, Waraq (Arabic for paper), references paper card games, in the form of ten card-shaped large paintings on panel..

Formal qualities are central to Kahraman’s paintings, and they are prevalent in her ten numbered “Immigrant” paintings for Waraq. In these panels, Kahraman expands upon her signature polarization of form and content, introducing a dynamic tension, a commentary on the dualities and contradictions of the beautiful and the repulsive, all in serenely balanced compositions that can be reversed, hung “upside down” and still make sense, just like a playing card.

Full essay by Nada Shabout HERE