Maysaloun Faraj: Messenger of Hope
Sajid Rizvi

This exhibition of latest works by Maysaloun Faraj coincides with a heady phase in international appreciation of art from or about the Middle East, most definably expressed by prices achieved in the auction rooms. Coincide though it does, the exhibition is not to be mistaken for an event simply riding the crest of an ongoing surge of enthusiasm of collectors, gallerists and myriad market forces at work in the Gulf region and the West.

Khalida Kites and Shattered Dreams Oil on canvas 50x40cm 2008   

For Maysaloun Faraj precedes by well over a decade the nascence of an international contemporary art market focused on the region, and her work commands a following that transcends cultural and political boundaries.  Boats and Burdens: Kites and Shattered Dreams builds on the poignantly poetical narrative evidenced in the artist’s earlier work, paintings as well as ceramics, exhibited in the British Museum exhibitions, Word into Art[1] and Iraq’s Past Speaks to the Present[2] and elsewhere including her own London venue, Aya Gallery.

History in Ruins Earthstone, oxides and raffia 25x20(x3)cm 2006 Collection British Museum: Word into Art, 2006, DIFC Dubai 2008 

An audience newly initiated into Faraj’s oeuvre may be forgiven for pausing to wonder if the paintings and sculptures are creations of the one and the same artist. Boats and Burdens: Kites and Shattered Dreams thus is a welcome corrective for those who, although touched by her History in Ruins piece in Word into Art, or Ancient Land in Iraq’s Past Speaks to the Present may yet be newcomers to the full measure of Faraj’s canvases and three-dimensional art.        

Ancient Land Earthstone, antique bronze and gold 34x34cm 2003: Iraq’s Past Speaks to the Present, British Museum, 2008

It is not unusual for an artist from the region permanently resident in the West to continue to draw on the rich legacy of the distant native lands. What sets Maysaloun apart is her art’s multi-dimensional accessibility. This is not to understate the work’s aesthetic force and technical finesse which, as we know only too well, are also important and potent accessories to an artist’s purpose but not always essential to contemporary art. 

Fadheela Kites and Shattered Dreams Oil on canvas 60x70cm 2008

In that sense the vocabulary Maysaloun Faraj employs becomes universal without losing its depth, subliminal content and, at one level, authentic character. After all, the work we see is a dialogue and the context is her native Iraq — eternal and contemporary, fragile and indestructible even in its daily toll of carnage and ruin. One tendency in the West is to compartmentalise any artist daring to unfurl their native colours, but there are abundant examples of artists, especially noted Jewish artists such as Chagall and Kitaj[4] doing precisely that and enjoying the fruits of international acclaim.


Kerima Kites and Shattered Dreams Oil on canvas 50x40cm 2008

Maysaloun does not go ‘ethnic,’ with her vibrant colours, magical textures, and geometric and scriptural explorations. Instead, she persuasively invites the viewer to absorb and understand her way of interpreting experiences that sadly are painfully familiar. The colours and forms are a language that she knows will take her ideas into the mind of the beholder. And she is doing this while ensconced in London, the veritable centre of world art.  The great plethora of contemporary western art has yet to show any stirrings of an artistic discourse that even remotely draws on the tragic events in Iraq or Afghanistan — two conflicts with far-reaching consequences for the West, but an Iraqi artist in the very same milieu is able to deliver a message of great moral power, one that offers an aesthetically charged alternative to political haranguing or helpless lament.


Najwa Kites and Shattered Dreams Oil on canvas 50x60cm 2008 

It is a message of hope that seeps through images of anger, despair and frustration. Through the darkest of her painterly narratives, Maysaloun Faraj manages to ignite that precious spark, crimson, gem-like hearts, in reinterpretations of timeless forms and stories. It is no mean achievement[5].  On another level, Boats and Burdens: Kites and Shattered Dreams is a culmination of a phase of tireless devotion to promotion of Iraqi art — other artists’ art. For some time now Maysaloun has been sacrificing her creative time on bringing to attention the work of other artists. It is to be hoped that this individual exhibition will be followed by another solo show of her work in a not too distant future.

London November 2008