Mohammed Sami lived his early adult years in war-torn Iraq,
surrounded by constant tension and the horror of daily bombings and
assassinations, before moving to Sweden in 2007 at age 23. The marks of
these deep traumas are apparent in his paintings where we can often
see an umbilical cord extending from birds and animals (especially
horses) to mother nature. Serving as a metaphor for imminent disaster,
these perishable creatures have no other means of escape than their
legs and wings. The fleeing or bleeding horses in the dark have lost
their direction whether hovering around fate or crossing the canvas
into the unknown, ascending to a place of no return.
Although they might appear fit and strong,
Sami’s fragile birds are always depicted crushed with broken wings.
They represent our souls broken by senseless wars, the quiver of the
uprooted nerves, Sami’s nerves, healed by time, but scarred for life
nevertheless.
Sami’s paintings undergo three separate stages of production, albeit unified in subject and ambience. He first builds his scenes on backgrounds often overtaken by darkness. The black colour he uses is the blindness from which emerge the forms that stumble in the glow of cosmic glimmers.
Then, the forms of his ethereal creatures are
outlined in coloured etched lines according to their migratory
intentions, sometimes intersected by the shrapnel of the dark
background, which in turn fragments or scatters them, or even blurs
some of their features.
The third level is represented by the glimmer of nerves and their extensions, their effects on one another and on the surface of the painting.
In Sami’s paintings, nothing is stationary; all
the drawings appear as if they are moving. There is always something
hidden. Beauty becomes part of this great confusion, which the viewers
live as the drawings themselves live. When we look at Sami’s paintings,
we feel as if we do not see all the reality. Many parts of which have
vanished, disappeared, been erased. What we see is only the traces of
reality. The painter does not recall his art from memory but rather
follows his passion, which blurs his eyes with tears. He sees nothing
but ghosts.
Sami relates a story of a long history of
destruction that afflicted his country through restless, distant looks
that he directs to a wild land bound in mysterious rhythms. It is
merely a play that entices the eyes with its music. In the few curved
lines, there are many cries that reside in the heart of the world and
the tortured human conscience. Sami’s paintings are the diary of a
storm that has playfully swept away a tide of static images. The
artist’s hand grasps the wind. There is nothing but the wind. And if
the painter has chosen horses to symbolize this wind it is because they
represent in all minds a history related to conquests and the
principle of regaining good health and defiance. It is a double-faced
mirror through which the painter expresses his familiarity with the
controversy that surrounds death and immortal life. Following this
death, there is a chance of another life coming from the unknown. These
paintings, despite all the pain they evoke, do not despair of hope.
Mohammed Sami was born in Baghdad in 1984. He
graduated from the Institute of Fine Arts in Baghdad in 2004. He lives
and works in Norrköping, Sweden.
He has had solo shows in Baghdad, Aleppo, Syria
and Norrköping, Sweden, and has participated in group exhibitions in
Paris, London, Stuttgart, Germany, Saint Petersburg, Russia and Abu
Dhabi.
Life Center, 2nd floor (next to CAP) +965 2241 3488
Block 2, Street 28, Industrial Shuwaikh, Kuwait
Saturday–Thursday, 11 am–8 pm
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