A little piece of Baghdad was transplanted to Degla’s Salam Gallery this March through Ruaa Al Bazirgan’s first Cairo exhibition.
The artist’s work is inspired by the lives and stories of Iraqi women, and are at once both joyful and sad, hopeful and sternly reflective vividly capturing the range of emotions and tragic experiences of women in a war-torn country.
“I draw my ideas from my own life and the lives of my family and friends, Bazirgan told The Daily Star Egypt. “Sometimes when I express my ideas in my painting it helps me and my family get through. My work also is also a source of income.
In addition to supporting her family, 25 percent of the proceeds of the show, which runs until March 20, will be donated to a charity fund for Iraqi children established by Baghdadiya television network.
Al Bazirgan’s work has helped her cope with the calamities she lived through in her home country, says the artist. That war had devastated Iraq’s once rich and vibrant artistic scene.
“Some of my paintings are influenced by the war in Iraq – by car bombs and many awful things like that, she says. “It’s horrible.
To counter that trauma she uses art. To her, it’s a powerful vehicle for self-expression and empowerment. Without it, she believes, it would be much harder to make sense of the world around us, especially in its darkest moments.
“I have a little power inside of me, like all women do. I express that power in my paintings and it makes me happy. I think that many of my paintings reflect that happiness, especially when I paint the faces of Iraqi women which are like a map of my country.
Bazirgan, a former employee at Iraq’s Baghdadiya television network, fled her native country five months ago with her family. She feared for her family’s safety because of her job in the media and her son’s work in the heavily fortified Green Zone which houses the American occupation authority.
“The war in Iraq makes no one safe. It’s hard to work with all the terrorism and car bombs, she says. “It wasn’t safe for any of us anymore.
The Salam Gallery18 Road 200, Degla, Maadi. Open 11 am -9 pm. Tel: 516 2577 – 519 5713
