Walid Siti

Walid Siti (born 1952, Duhok, Iraqi Kurdistan) is a Kurdish painter and artist. He is currently based in London, United Kingdom.[1]

Education and early life

He was born into a family of a Sunni Muslim background and had four brothers and a sister.[2] His father was involved in the Kurdish revolutionary movement and often in prison.[2] The father was the breadwinner of his family and as his was often absent, he and his siblings had to work after school.[3] His artistic skills have already raised some awareness in primary school, but weren't met with appraisal by the family at the time.[2] Nevertheless, his father supported his desire to study art.[2] He studied art at the Institute of Fine Arts in Baghdad from which he graduated in 1976.[1] He then travelled to Yugoslavia (present day Slovenia) and where he studied graphic art[4] between 1977 and 1982 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana, from where he obtained a MSc.[1] In 1984 he moved on to London due to the difficult situation in Baathist Iraq.[4][2]

Artistic career

He has developed a proficiency in several artistic fields like painting, printing and installations.[4] Initially trained in artistic prints his artwork is now also including sketches and paintings.[2] In his artistic artwork he lets himself get inspired by his cultural heritage of his homeland.[5]

Exhibitions

  • 1987, Three Kurdish Artists, Kufa Gallery, London
  • 1994, Timescapes, curated by Rose Issa, Leighton House Museum, London
  • 2008, Land on Fire, curated by Rose Issa, Leighton House Museum, London
  • 2011, The River Zei, Rose Issa Projects, London.
  • 2012, Alienation, Barjeel Art Foundation, Saudi Arabia[6]
  • 2013, In Dialogue with Modhir Ahmed, Abdulrahim Sharif and Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa at the Art Centre, Bahrain.[7]
  • 2017, The Black Tower, Zilberman Gallery, Berlin[8]

Further reading

Walid Siti, Kehrer Verlag.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Collections Online | British Museum". www.britishmuseum.org. Retrieved 2020-12-06.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Marray, Deniz (2014-11-11). "Kurdish-Iraqi artist Walid Siti on conflict and loss". Arab News. Retrieved 2021-08-30.
  3. ^ "Walid Siti: My work navigates a complex terrain of memory and loss". Culture Project for Art, Feminism and Gender. Retrieved 2023-01-02.
  4. ^ a b c "Walid Siti - New Babylon". universes.art. Retrieved 2020-12-06.
  5. ^ "Walid Siti". Framer Framed. Retrieved 2020-12-06.
  6. ^ "Alienation". Barjeel Art Foundation. 2012-03-24. Retrieved 2020-12-06.
  7. ^ "Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities - Kingdom of Bahrain | Past Events". culture.gov.bh. Retrieved 2020-12-06.
  8. ^ "Photos of the exhibition. Walid Siti: The Black Tower". universes.art. Retrieved 2020-12-06.
  9. ^ Siti, Walid; Sahakian, Rijin; Muller, Nat; Bahraini, Zainab; Porter, Venetia; Sahakian, Rijin; Johnson, Sarah (2020-09-27). Walid Siti. Kehrer Verlag Heidelberg, Klaus Kehrer. ISBN 978-3-86828-927-5.