Extreme, by Sinan Hussein (Iraq)
This work was created in response to poetic texts written by Habibah Sheikh, a nomadic performance artist originally from Lebanon, and the curator of the exhibition, Mitli Mitlak (Like You, Like Me). In the text, a character named Ruba experiences the destruction of war first hand and becomes a refugee in the process. The use of imagery and of violence evokes the emotional and physical vulnerability of certain Mediterranean themes...such as being without asylum.
In Sinan Hussein’s refugee paintings, the heaviness and the trauma of these experiences are constructed with powerful symbols that are very small, colorful, humble, yet extreme. He condenses three scenes into one or two paintings through symbolism. In Hussein’s refugee painting, the refugee is wearing a red glove on one hand, which for Hussein, is a symbol of politics: the glove of communism. He describes it as ‘how they amass people and tell them that all are treated equally, whether they are rich or poor...the same, animal or not animal, all the same herd. The zebra head worn by one figure is a symbol of world politics. This painting situates Mitli Mitlak during a civil war. One character has on yellow boots, worn when someone goes out to catch fish. “He is going out to kill; Kill the fish... Kill somebody...Kill”. What is being killed in the painting is a bull, reminding the viewer of the Spanish bullfights. This sacrificial animal is symbolizing refugee people. This stabbed, bludgeoned bull attached to and being wheeled around on a bicycle tire, reduces the refugee exodos to one symbol or image. (SULAJ) While elaborating on the image of the bull being stabbed, he says about refugees that flee, “War makers use people to fight in war, and afterward, they kill them.” Just as happened in Iraq, says Hussein, “they said, ‘we are coming to save the Iraqi people’.” After a quiet pause, he adds, “It’s just politics”. “They didn’t find anything dangerous in Iraq. It was all a lie."
In the painting, the donkey’s head is the mask of democracy, while the elephant in the party scene is the republican. “Again, I use it in the painting because they said they were bringing us democracy. In the exodos painting, titled ‘Extreme’ The light bulb under an umbrella expresses, what was promised to Iraq: “ We are coming here to bring the light to create a paradise on earth”. Hussein painted the scene to have it appear that the figures are outside, but they are not outside, because the characters are fenced in. He says, “Inside the world of this painting, the fence where the refugees are contained, is not as the barbed wire of refugee or Palestinian fences, It is an American picket fence."
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85 x 63 in.
English
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Sectarian Asylum, by Sinan Hussein (Iraq)
This work was created in response to poetic texts written by Habibah Sheikh, a nomadic performance artist originally from Lebanon, and the curator of the Mitli Mitlak exhibition. In the text, a character named Ruba experiences the destruction of war first hand and becomes a refugee in the process. The use of imagery and of violence evokes the emotional and physical vulnerability of certain Mediterranean themes...such as being without asylum.
This painting visions the destruction of war with the destroyed city in burned and brown tones, where the blue sky is brighter than anything on the ground. Desolate spirits and 'out of life' souls are extending from the open hands of Mary, as others fly above her, and other 'out of life' beings, half-animal, are at her side. The intensities of pain and the electrical charges from the nervous system are connected to visions in the third eye. A refugee with colonized traits resembling a spirit from the 1800’s, is with people in his heart that give him happiness, even in the predicament of losing all. In his hands, a dead child. It seems this character is very confused...very far from himself. He seems to have worked so hard to create a Western appearance, and he seems to deny that his goals are destroyed and unattainable. He does not know himself, only the mediatized personality which he has created as a defense mechanism. He is posing for the camera with the dead child in hand. All accepting Mary enshrines him. The weeping creatures out of her hands are swollen flowers who are burnt out and exhausted. To view this Westernized refugee, makes one feel that it is only the beginning of a very vast journey that will entail much more turmoil...And will strip away his Western wing and dull his wide-eyed grin into a smile of sadness.
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jpeg., 11 x 59 in.
English
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Rabab and Goats, by Sinan Hussein (Iraq)
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jpeg., 85 x 63 in.
English
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Just A Concert, by Sinan Hussein (Iraq)
“I did not paint the perilous seas, nor the streets of homelessness, associated with refugees”, explains Sinan Hussein. <br /><br />This painting is of a party with refugee guests. Each guest brings his or her social mask in hand, ready to wear. These party guests seem to come from the streets, where they dwell. The streets have marked their existence, in a way where characters carry the traits of the street. The man on the cone is damaged. Instead of being on the street, he is on a cone that represents the street of a homeless man. <br /><br />“When I applied for asylum at the United Nations, I thought they would send me to Sweden or something. I was shocked that they selected America for me", explains Hussein. Hussein did not want to move to America. He wanted to stay near the family he loves so dearly in his city, Baghdad, but he had no choice but to leave, due to the threats engendered by conflict. <br /><br />(Above text taken from an essay in the <em>Mitli Mitlak (Like You, Like Me)</em> exhibition catalogue, which provides an overview of contemporary Arab world art and current regional and global trends of thought. The text also illustrates the interrelations between the painting and Biba Sheikh’s literary text on which the artwork is based.)
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jpeg., Acrylic on Canvas. 78.74 x 63 (inches)
English
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