After the Fall of Baghdad in 2003, Iraqi Artist Elaf Adel al-Alousi left her country full of emotions that she strongly wanted to express with painting. Running until January 7, her first exhibition dubbed “Dreamers of the Other Time” currently held at the Naila Art Gallery, Riyadh, highlights Elaf’s artistic view of migrant women who dream of love and peace.
The exhibition, which centers around women, reflects the repercussions of what happened to many struggling Iraqis who migrated but kept their country in their heart. Al-Alousi assembled all these emotions in paintings that document events that exhausted the Iraqi conscience over two decades.
“I left Iraq in 2004. At the time, I was heartbroken and oppressed by what happened to my country which I saw collapsing. This wound persisted and it’s still aching me,” she told Asharq Al-Awsat. The artist’s words are seen in her works. She recalls the memory of destruction and the pains of wars, and reshapes them in narrative creature that aspire a better tomorrow.
About her exhibition, al-Alousi said she needed around a year to draw these paintings that depict women who dream of love and peace, and look for a better time that the people of this planet could live in. “Perhaps, we will reach this time soon so we can live in a world free of wars and cruelty,” she added.
Visitors of the exhibition can feel pain, loss, and exile in her 37 paintings.
- The woman…The land
The Iraqi artist believes that people today are trapped by news bulletins that cover wars, tragedies, and human struggles in many countries. According to Elaf, the woman in her paintings is the land, which can obviously be seen in the color blend inspired by the color of the soil and its minerals.
“In the midst of tragedies that encircle our world, I believe Saudi women are an exception, because in my opinion, they are living their best life and time compared to women in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, and many other countries,” Elaf explains.
The paintings of al-Alousi depict a resistant woman with a high head, sturdy shoulders and an open chest that suggest power and trust. The works express a woman’s ability to overcome and survive, once alone and self-sufficient, and once with a partner who reciprocate her same feelings in a simulation of the power that results from the conjugal cohesion and unity.
- Baghdadi Art
Iraqi women are often depicted as wealthy women drinking tea and chatting for hours with the other women in their neighborhood, wearing their colorful clothes and loose long, black hair. However, in al-Alousi’s works, the Iraqi woman is really far from this stereotype.
“Most Iraqi artists adopt the Baghdadi style and focus on Baghdadi women, but I wanted to work on a different theme,” she said.
- Escape from stereotypes
The Iraqi artist admits that the woman she depicted was controversial for the visitors of the exhibition, but she argues that her choice is the beginning of a gradual liberation from the familiar lines towards unfamiliar artistic visions.
Currently based in Riyadh, Elaf Adel al-Alousi was born in Baghdad and graduated from the business management and economy department at the University of Baghdad; she is member of the Saudi Arabian Society for Culture and Arts (SASCA), and member of Saudi Art Association (GSFT). The Iraqi artist partook in several exhibitions in Saudi Arabia and abroad.
