LONDON.- Ayyam Gallery London announces Driven by Storms (Ali’s Boat), the solo show of leading Iraqi artist Sadik Kwaish Alfraji. Excerpted from Alfraji’s critically acclaimed large-scale exhibition, the multimedia installation describes a simple exchange between the artist and his nephew, Ali, who expressed his longing to escape war-torn Baghdad in a handwritten letter. After receiving the child’s message, however, Alfraji was haunted by the image of a small boat that Ali included to illustrate his dream of floating away from the devastation of Iraq after the 2003 American-led invasion to the safety of the Netherlands where the artist is based. In an accompanying statement Alfraji describes having a similar dream as a young man who longed to escape the misery of his impoverished neighbourhood in the Iraqi capital, which became an enduring site of death and mourning during the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s.

Weaving together a narrative of displacement with the imaginings of his nephew, Alfraji details his own visions of exile as marked by the recurring dream of returning to the Baghdad of his childhood while depicting the fantasy world of a boy who seeks to leave behind the calamity of war. At the centre of the installation is a video animation composed of an evolving black and white drawing that depicts the story of Alfraji’s life in Iraq and his subsequent displacement as a visualised stream of consciousness. Layered with symbolist imagery, the animation unfolds around a self-portrait in profile that seems to absorb the catastrophic changes (or storms) of the surrounding environment. The video is set to an evocative musical score by David Darling that marks each stage of the artist’s life with melancholic tones while suggesting the passage of time and the cyclic nature of Iraq’s recent history.

The complete installation of Driven by Storms (Ali’s Boat) debuted earlier this year and was organised under the direction of Dutch curator Nat Muller. Muller is also the editor of a new monograph on the artist produced by Schilt Publishing, Amsterdam. Venetia Porter from the British Museum will be in conversation with Sadik Kwaish Alfraji on Thursday, 23 July at 6.00 pm. The talk will be followed by book launch and signing as part of the scheduled events of the 2015 Shubbak Festival, London’s leading program for contemporary Arab culture.

Sadik Kwaish Alfraji
Multimedia artist Sadik Kwaish Alfraji explores what he describes as ‘the problem of existence’ through drawings, paintings, video animations, art books, graphic art, and installations. The shadowy protagonist who occupies Alfraji’s interdisciplinary works represents a black void, a filter that allows him to explore the intricacies of navigating the precarious nature of modern existence. By rendering his solitary figure as a charcoal- coloured silhouette and minimising the formal properties of his compositions, Alfraji captures the expressed movement and subtle inflections of the body in psychologically laden environments. The artist often records his own narrative in black and white depictions of his recurring character, particularly the loss, fragmentation, and lapses in time that underline the experience of exile.

Born in Baghdad, Iraq in 1960, Sadik Kwaish Alfraji lives and works in Amersfoort, The Netherlands. He received a Bachelor of Fine Art in Painting and Plastic Art from the Academy of Fine Arts, Baghdad in 1987, and a High Diploma in Graphic Design from CHK Constantijn Huygens, Netherlands in 2000.

The artist’s recent solo shows include Ayyam Gallery Al Quoz, Dubai (2015); Beirut Exhibition Center (2014); Ayyam Gallery London (2013); Ayyam Gallery DIFC, Dubai (2011); Ayyam Gallery Damascus (2011); Stads Gallery, Amersfoort, Netherlands (2010); Station Museum, Houston (2008); Stedelijk Museum, Den Bosch (2007). Selected group exhibitions include 56th Venice Biennale, Italy (2015); Abu Dhabi Festival, Abu Dhabi (2015); Maraya Art Centre, Sharjah (2015); LACMA, Los Angeles (2015); FotoFest Biennial, Houston (2014); Samsung Blue Square and Busan Museum of Art, South Korea (2014); Ikono On Air Festival, online and broadcasted (2013); Mori Art Museum, Tokyo (2012); Institut du Monde Arabe (2012); Centro Cultural General San Martin, Buenos Aires (2012); Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Algiers (2011); and Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Qatar (2010).

Alfraji’s works are housed in numerous private and public collections including the National Museum of Modern Art, Baghdad; The Art Center, Baghdad; National Gallery of Fine Arts Amman; Shoman Foundation, Amman; Royal Association of Fine Arts, Amman; Novosibirsk State Art Museum, Russia; and the Cluj-Napoca Art Museum, Romania; Los Angeles Country Museum; and Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

Alfraji was named Artist of the Year at the Esquire Middle East Awards in 2012. A monograph on the artist was published by Schilt Publishing, Amsterdam in 2015.