The Art Blog has been running a regular series in collaboration with the National Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, where the interns working alongside the UAE team regularly file first-hand reports from the ground.
Sultan Al Ramahi, an Emirati architecture and fine-arts graduate from Washington State University, shares his thoughts on the Iraqi booth at the world art event.
“For a country that has been subject to war and suffering for so long, the Iraq Pavilion chose to address the sad reality full on,” says Al Ramahi.
“While it is unfortunate that art from the region often focuses on politics, I think it is also necessary, as art serves as a vehicle to carry the message of suffering and the oppressed.”
Al Ramahi, who works as a professional planner at the Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council, says that the section of Iraq’s Pavilion dedicated to drawings done by Iraqi refugees, and selected by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, contain “the most powerful pieces” in the entire biennale.
Traces of Survival shows simple drawings in vibrant colours that seem joyful from afar, but on closer inspection reveal black figures shooting at women and children.
The works were compiled and collected in late 2014, when the Ruya Foundation, the commissioner of the pavilion, visited various refugee camps in northern Iraq and provided drawing materials to adult men and women.
Ai Weiwei then picked a selection of the submissions to be displayed at the Pavilion, and to be published in a publication of the same name.
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