Electronic Iraq : Art, Music & Culture

World Heritage push for "Garden of Eden"

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 06:53:08 CST

A plan to list as a World Heritage Site an area known as the Fertile Crescent, and thought by some to be the location of the Biblical 'Garden of Eden', has been unveiled by the United Nations. The initiative, to be supported by funding from the Government of Italy, aims to further the protection and conservation of a significant wetland of global cultural, natural and environmental importance. The Marshlands, spawning grounds for Gulf fisheries and home to species like the Sacred Ibis, were almost totally drained and destroyed by the former Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein during the 1990s and early 21st century.

Ghosts From the Land of Milk and Honey

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 08:09:13 CST

Immortalised in stark black and white, two photographs of everyday life in Iraq confront visitors to the Pomegranate Art Gallery in the heart of SoHo, New York City. This is the only gallery in New York City to specialise in modern Middle Eastern art. Its current exhibit, "Contemporary Iraqi Art," features the work of 16 Iraqi artists, many of whom have fled Iraq and now live scattered across Europe and the Middle East.

The Art of Kareem Risan and the Uranium Civilization

Mon, 23 Jul 2007 09:00:47 CST

Characterized by two coinciding histories since its first cities were founded six thousand years ago, Iraq has experienced both the pinnacles of world civilization and large scale destruction at different times in its history. Subjected to unyielding violence and ruin, Iraq currently has the world's attention. Yet its rich cultural narrative continues in the work of its artists. Conscious of their complex history, contemporary Iraqi artists employ a diverse visual culture that utilizes and projects its multiple identities.

"I Know Shut Up": New Iraq Documentary Offers Rare Glimpse of Detention and Life After

Fri, 23 Mar 2007 06:32:00 CST

Filmmaker David Boodell reviews The Prisoner Or: How I planned to kill Tony Blair, the new film by the the director of Gunner Palace. The film retraces the story of Iraqi journalist Yunis Khatayer Abbas from house raid to detention to release. Found guilty of nothing, the film is an unusually complete portrait of the perils of life under occupation.

Regarding the Pain of Others: The Photography of Farah Nosh

Thu, 15 Feb 2007 16:58:00 CST

What's absent from Farah Nosh's series of images taken in Iraq in early 2006 is just as important as what she shows us. Included in the exhibition Inside Out currently showing at the Gage Gallery at Chicago's Roosevelt University, Nosh's series is comprised of stark black-and-white portraits of Iraqi amputees, all of them injured as a result of the war. In her deceptively simple images, viewers are first confronted with what is obviously absent and then made to associate more abstract notions of "missing." Nosh's subjects stand or sit in sparely decorated rooms, most of them looking at the camera as they would in a studio portrait.

Review: Iraq in Fragments

Tue, 30 Jan 2007 07:23:00 CST

In the years since the invasion of Iraq, many documentaries have attempted to record its consequences: the violence; the occupation; the plunder. The focus has ranged from the anthropological to geopolitical, just as the production has varied from the bland to the spectacular. With the urgency of the political reality taking preeminence, the myriad documentary renderings have hitherto failed to present a sustained portrait of life in occupied Iraq. Iraq in Fragments — the distilled product of more than two years and 300 hours of filming — is James Longley's splendid contribution towards filling this void.

Comedians & Writers raise in San Francisco raise money for Slain Iraqi Comedian Walid Hassan

Tue, 09 Jan 2007 07:27:00 CST

Reporters Without Borders was delighted with the outcome of a benefit held in San Francisco on January 8th, 2007. "This benefit was an impressive show of solidarity on the part of Bay Area comedians and writers, a tribute to one of their own - Iraqi comedian Walid Hassan - who was murdered in Baghdad last November," the international press freedom organization said. "Money raised will help Hassan's relatives get through the very difficult situation they are facing because of the loss of the head of the family." The proceeds will go to Hassan's family through a special fund set up by Reporters Without Borders to support Iraqi journalists and their relatives.

Singing "the devil's music" will get you killed

Thu, 23 Nov 2006 08:46:00 CST

Youssef Jabry, 32, is a singer who loves western music. He sings for a living in parties, weddings and all sorts of gatherings. But what was once a dream job has become a nightmare with the rise of Islamic extremists who say western music is unreligious and must be prohibited.

Longley's Iraq in Fragments opens across US

Thu, 09 Nov 2006 12:35:00 CST

Michael Moore calls Iraq in Fragments (the new film by the director of the award winning Gaza Strip) "Stunningly beautiful." The film makes is debut run in US theatres this month. The films distributor is encouraging people to "PLEASE make it a priority to see Iraq in Fragments as close as possible to the dates listed below...The opening weekend of a film can make or break the length of its run."

Little Birds: A devastating window on the war

Tue, 29 Aug 2006 07:31:00 CST

"At a time when the Iraq war continues to be a defining issue on the American scene, it is ironic that the most powerful and uncompromising documentary on the subject remains almost entirely unknown and unseen in this country. It took Japanese filmmaker Takeharu Watai a year and a half to film 123 hours of footage in Iraq, which he managed to edit down to two unforgettable hours. The result is the stunning Little Birds..."

Iraq in fragments: James Longley's production notes

Mon, 17 Jul 2006 18:13:00 CST

Iraq In Fragments illuminates post-war Iraq in three acts, building a vivid picture of a country pulled in different directions by religion and ethnicity. Filmed in cinema verité style, the film powerfully explores the lives of ordinary Iraqis: people whose thoughts, beliefs, aspirations, and concerns are at once personal and illustrative of larger issues in Iraq today. James Longley's production notes.

Children suffer from dearth of entertainment, say health experts

Tue, 11 Jul 2006 08:12:00 CST

According to health experts, the lack of entertainment is one of the biggest problems afflicting Iraqi youth. "Iraqis have to be careful in whatever they do," said Maruan Abdullah, a spokesman for the Association of Psychologists of Iraq.

"Three Arab Painters in New York", featuring Iraqi artist, to open

Wed, 31 May 2006 15:22:00 CST

Athir Shayota's Iraqi figures are guarded, showing no signs of vulnerability and displaying an intense indifference toward the viewer. They are captured in frozen moments in time. Refusing objectification with dignified and confident stances, his Iraqi subjects are positioned defiantly in front of the viewer, showing no sense of reliance on the viewer to come to his/her own conclusions. The use of Iraqi themes as subject matter serves as an act of defiance within the current political climate.

Artists become targets in rising atmosphere of intolerance

Tue, 25 Apr 2006 07:19:00 CST

"Artists are being threatened and killed because they want to change the reality of the country by helping people forget all the violence and death," said Said Kareem, senior official for the Iraqi Artists Association in the capital, Baghdad. Some fundamentalist Muslim insurgents say that music is un-Islamic, and that people should only listen to verses from the Quran, the Islamic holy book. Acting, theatre and television, they say, tend to encourage bad behaviour and irreligious attitudes.

The Perfect Antidote to the War on Terror

Wed, 01 Feb 2006 10:39:00 CST

Any Arab who has watched a few movies in their time knows that their people and Tinsel Town have a few things to work out. With no shortage of caricatures, stereotypes, and other negative portrayals flickering across cinema screens year after year, passing unnoticed in American society bar the reflexive condemnations by Arab American groups, it was high time someone did something proactive. The New York Arab-American Comedy Festival, which held its third annual event in Manhattan last November to sold out crowds, recently took the Festival on the road to the industry's front door: Hollywood, Los Angeles.

Victory in War, Failure in Peace: The precedent of Iraq in the "Greater Middle East"

Mon, 10 Oct 2005 14:07:00 CST

The threat of more war against terrorism and for democracy is looming in the Middle East. George W. Bush has consistently twisted his tongue in attempts to disengage from Iraq, but in clear terms he has now announced the strongest American menace against both Syria and Iran. The tactic is typical of all empires: when confronted with internal problems (in this case, the massive response of natural disasters and the growing opposition to the occupation of Iraq), the state wages another war to divert public attention. Stuart Reigeluth reviews two new books on the U.S. administration's arrogant mishandling of the "War on Terrorism" as waged in Iraq.

Interview with "Night Draws Near" author Anthony Shadid

Fri, 30 Sep 2005 07:55:00 CST

Anthony Shadid

Appropriately beginning with the day of amnesty at the infamous Abu Ghreib prison when Saddam Hussein released all the prisoners, the new book Night Draws Near is an illuminating look into the ordinary lives of Iraqis during not so ordinary times. From this day on, author and Pulitzer Prize-winning war correspondent Anthony Shadid gets his first peek into deep-seated complaints and the long history of Iraqis, hardened by modern events but always proud of their identity. Sheri Muzher talks to Shadid about the complicated life in Iraq, the pliability of political Islam, and how history is repeating itself in the embattled country.

Film Review: "A Letter to the Prime Minister: Jo Wilding's Diary from Iraq"

Thu, 18 Aug 2005 04:58:00 CST

Director Julia Guest of Year Zero Films has created a powerful new documentary about Jo Wilding's journey in Iraq.

Wilding wrote for Electronic Iraq from Iraq between November 2003 to mid May 2004. A Letter to the Prime Minister: Jo Wilding's Diary from Iraq, documents Wilding's journey of witness: from the quiet brutality of the sanctions afflicting ordinary Iraqis to the siege of Fallujah, which she shared with Fallujans in April, 2004.

Security barriers in capital get colourful face lift

Fri, 11 Feb 2005 13:11:00 CST

BAGHDAD, 10 Feb 2005 (IRIN) - Huge concrete security barriers in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, are being given a colourful facelift, after local artists clubbed together to paint the unattractive, yet highly necessary blocks.

Under a project developed by an artists' association in Baghdad, barriers set up by US troops as a protection against attacks by insurgents are being brightly painted with symbols of freedom and of Iraqi traditions.

Documentary film review: About Baghdad gives voice to Iraqis not represented in the news media

Mon, 29 Nov 2004 11:21:00 CST

"We'll give [the Americans] a chance. If there's no freedom ... they know that the Iraqi people are revolutionary. We won't be silent if we are repressed," says an Iraqi man with a weathered face in the documentary About Baghdad, shot in July 2003. But one wonders what he would say today, after seeing the images that have come out of Abu Ghraib and Falluja, and now that it is apparent that the U.S. military has had no viable exit strategy. About Baghdad captures through the many Iraqi voices in the film the trauma of this most current war, on top of the pain endured during twelve years of economic sanctions and decades of war and oppression under the rule of Saddam Hussein.