AB Gallery presents the newest works by the Iraqi artist Wamidh Al-Ameri in the exhibition "Evidence" including the work To Go Astray. During his artist-in-residence program in Lucerne the Iraqi artist Wamidh Al-Ameri has dedicated himself to very serious subjects. His works are related to current topics of the Arab world such as war, religion, poverty, escape, rebellion and resignation.
However, Al-Ameri did not want to evoke anxiety through the seriousness of the subject but make them accessible to everyone through a playful implementation. Thus he made people walk in front of the Jesuit church in the Swiss city Lucerne with an umbrella decorated like a minaret showing a Koran excerpt and a half moon on the tip. It may seem strange, contradictory and complex that Wamidh Al-Ameri puts the half-moon, the symbol of Islam par excellence, on an every day object and that he creates a dialog between the golden crucifixes of the Christian church and the half-moon. He demystifies Islam, makes it literary tangible, and plays with associations caused by the umbrella. In the present difficult economical situation the work may even remind the omnipresent term of the "European rescue umbrella", since it is the money from Islamic countries which supports many companies and banks.
Wamidh Al-Ameri (*1977) was born in Baghdad/ Iraq. He lives in Winterthur and Zurich/ Switzerland. Many of his artworks are related to the Iraqi history or politics. His works portrays Iraq from a witnesses point of view or as evidence. Al-Ameri is always uses a very pictorial and "evident" language to translate a complex massage, which has become his artistic guiding principle.
Al-Ameri graduated from the University of fine Arts in Baghdad, the University of Arts in Bern and the University of Fine Arts in Zurich. In 2009 he received a studio scholarship form the canton Zurich for the Cité internationale des arts Paris. In 2006 he received the city award of Winterthur. His works has been shown in Switzerland, France and Slovakia. He is member of the Iraqi artist group URNAMO.
September 2 - October 13
Luzern, Switzerland
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