Artists' work is displayed at Iraqi Landscape Exhibition - in pictures
Artist Masoud Al Jameel stands next to his painting that depicts the scene of a heavy sandstorm that turns the sky of an arid agricultural area to reddish-brown. All photos: Sinan Mahmoud / The National
Artist Alaa Al Baldawi stands next to his painting that shows a scene from last century of an arable area in southern Iraq, where a tributary of the Tigris River is now almost gone.
Artist Ziyad Jassam stands next to his oil on canvas painting which shows what is left in the once-lush Arab Jibour suburb in south-east Baghdad.
At the annual Iraqi Landscape Exhibition, local artists express concern about the climate crisis which imperils Iraq today.
Paintings on display at the annual Iraqi Landscape Exhibition.
The art show, which is organised by the Iraqi Plastic Artists Society, brings together 74 artists.
The exhibition features paintings from across Iraq.
The country faces a wide range of challenges compounded by water insecurity, mismanagement and man-made problems such as the illegal clearing of agricultural areas to build houses.
More frequent and intense droughts, sandstorms, heatwaves and rising sea levels are damaging people's livelihoods and communities.
Desertification affects about 39 per cent of Iraq's land and 54 per cent of its agricultural lands have been degraded, mainly by soil salinity caused by reduced water flows in the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, a declining precipitation rate and sea level increases.
The exhibition is on through July at the main hall of the Iraqi Plastic Artists Society in Baghdad’s Mansour neighbourhood.
Iraq is thought to be the fifth most vulnerable country in the world to climate change.
The artists are seeking to inspire and drive climate action.
