Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi is a writer and researcher, and the founder of Barjeel Art Foundation
December 28, 2021
On the morning of Tuesday January 24, 1961, reports emerged from Baghdad’s Republican Hospital, in the neighbourhood of Rusafa, that the prominent Iraqi artist Jewad Selim had been admitted to hospital after having a stroke while he was dining the night before with his close friend, the artist Dr Khaled Al Qassab.
Selim was at the peak of his artistic production, having been commissioned by Prime Minister Abd Al Karim Qasim to create a monument to commemorate the Revolution of 1958 together with his other close friend, the Iraqi architect Rifaat Chadirji. In imagining the scale of the monument, one that would fit the occasion, Chadirji suggested to Selim: "Let's make a banner that will remain hoisted forever!"
News of Selim's stroke could not have come at a worse time. The monument on Tahrir (Liberation) Square was just being erected, with one sole bronze sculpture fully installed. The project was due for completion that summer in time for the Revolution's third anniversary. No effort was spared to save Selim. Writing in 1984, his friend Jabra Ibrahim Jabra concurred that "(a)round his bed gathered the best doctors in town trying to help him pull through".
Leading the team of doctors to save the artist was the prominent Mosul-born academic and physician Dr Salem F Al Damluji, who trained at the Royal Teaching Hospital in Baghdad. Dr Al Qassab noted in his memoirs that Lorna, Selim's wife, was also present at Ward 8, and that Jewad Selim's condition had initially improved before his tumbling blood pressure led to breathing difficulties. In his last moments, as per Al Qassab's retelling, Selim turned to his loyal wife and said, "Imagine I see you now as an angel. Imagine you, Lorna, are an angel."
Jewad Selim’s famous Freedom Monument in Tahrir Square, Baghdad. Selim died before it was unveiled in 1961. Alamy
Shortly thereafter, Iraq lost what many consider to have been the country's leading artist and an icon of modernity.
The mourning of Jewad Selim's passing on Monday, January 23, 1961 lasted for years to come. Even decades later, in 1989, Ismail Fattah, his student at the Institute of Fine Arts in Baghdad, would create a painting as a homage to his former mentor. Other artists who continue to celebrate Jewad's legacy include Dia Azzawi and Nazar Yahya, while Lorna, his widow and peer from the Slade School of Fine Art in London, paid homage to her late husband by supervising the completion of the Freedom Monument.
Just over 60 years later, in November, 2021 I visited Baghdad for the first time, fulfilling a lifelong dream. I initially kept the visit discreet even from my mum, hoping not to worry her. Iraq, after all, has witnessed a string of events and news coverage that would make some potential visitors think twice before embarking on a visit. Having collected modern art from the Arab World for almost two decades, I have always had an urge to visit all of the Arab states, and Iraq was on the top of my bucket list. I could feign a number of compelling reasons to visit but in truth it was Jewad Selim's Freedom Monument that drew me, like a sacred site that I had to visit. After all, I must have stared at photos of it for countless hours, admiring it from every possible photographed angle.
I went to Baghdad with all sorts of notions in mind that were thankfully dispelled the moment my eyes saw the farm fields surrounding the airport as we landed. As we drove on the palm tree-lined avenue from the airport to the city, my eyes started to wander, my face drew closer to the window. I wanted to absorb as much of Baghdad as possible.
Lorna Selim, left, was born in Sheffield, and met Jewad Selim, right when they were both studying at the Slade School of Fine Art in London. She returned to Baghdad with him, where she developed her own art career. Makiya Archive
I asked the driver to explain what we were seeing and driving by. "This is the Green Zone…that's Saddam's former palace, abandoned…Here's the Prime Minister's Office," I was told. My heart was racing. Can we just get to the Freedom Monument already, I kept thinking to myself. "That's the Victory Arch over there behind the bridge." We race in our Toyota 4x4 and I get dropped off on the side of a square. I see it, but it's not registering. I know it's there, but am I really here?
All sorts of strange thoughts came to mind and I could hear my Iraqi hosts say, "Ha, shrayek?" (So, what do you think?). I was silent for minutes on end. The Freedom Monument, measuring 10 metres in height and 50 metres in length, was everything I thought it would be and more. The 14 life size bronze figures that I have admired on a 2D screen or book were protruding; they looked almost animated.
Leaving the Freedom Monument behind, I visited The Iraq Museum with its second-to-none collection of Assyrian, Babylonian and Sumerian artefacts. I decided to forgo the chauffeur-driven vehicle and decided to continue my journey around Baghdad in taxis and the Coaster bus in the company of three Iraqi friends. We had lunch at Al Ameer Restaurant in Karrada and shared the best pomegranate juice I ever tasted at Hajji Zabala, near Al Mutanabbi street. Perhaps the most surprising site visit for me in Baghdad was The Martyrs' Monument designed by the artist Ismail Fattah Al Turk in the 1980s to commemorate those whose lives were lost in the Iraq-Iran War. Facing the large, blue split domes I sensed a feeling of spirituality and even divine presence.
Before leaving Baghdad on that all too short trip, I once again visited the Freedom Monument for one last goodbye. I imagined Jewad Selim, on a cold January morning in 1961, hoisting what was the first bronze figure onto Chadirji's concrete base. Standing there, I took a few steps back and thought to myself, "You may both be gone, but your banner is still hoisted."
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
