BIRD SYMPHONY PARIS 2015 | Maysaloun Faraj

MAYSALOUN FARAJ

B ird Sy m p h o ny P a ri s 2 01 6

Bird Symphony is a collection of drawings made during my first residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts Paris, hosted by the Al-Mansouria Foundation from August to December 2015. The body of work consists of fifteen paintings (acrylic and coloured pencil on paper) in response to the tragic mass migration witnessed world-over. Sadly, it is often in the name of Freedom and Democracy and in the name of Religion that atrocities are committed, the result of which innocent lives find themselves in pursuit of ‘safety’ outside their homelands. Forced to leave everything behind jeopardizing their very lives in the process, they flee abundant lands, precious home and loved ones, carrying nothing more than sorrow-filled hearts and treasured memories, not knowing what the future holds.

Maysaloun Faraj at the Al-Mansouria Foundation, Cité Internationale des Arts Paris 2015

Bird Symphony 01 Acrylic paint and colored pencil on paper 42x30cm 2015

Bird Symphony 02 Acrylic paint and colored pencil on paper 42x30cm 2015

Bird Symphony 03 Acrylic paint and colored pencil on paper 42x30cm 2015

Bird Symphony 04 Acrylic paint and colored pencil on paper 42x30cm 2015

Bird Symphony 05 Acrylic paint and colored pencil on paper 42x30cm 2015

Bird Symphony 06 Acrylic paint and colored pencil on paper 42x30cm 2015

Bird Symphony 07 Acrylic paint and colored pencil on paper 42x30cm 2015

Bird Symphony 08 Acrylic paint and colored pencil on paper 42x30cm 2015

Bird Symphony 09 Acrylic paint and colored pencil on paper 42x30cm 2015

Bird Symphony 10 Acrylic paint and colored pencil on paper 42x30cm 2015

Bird Symphony 11 Acrylic paint and colored pencil on paper 42x30cm 2015

Bird Symphony 12 Acrylic paint and colored pencil on paper 42x30cm 2015

Bird Symphony 13 Acrylic paint and colored pencil on paper 42x30cm 2015

Bird Symphony 14 Acrylic paint and colored pencil on paper 42x30cm 2015

Bird Symphony 15 Acrylic paint and colored pencil on paper 42x30cm 2015

Iraqi art touring the UK and the USA (2000-3). Faraj is editor of the seminal publication Strokes of Genius: Contemporary Iraqi Art (Saqi Books 2001).

Co-founded Aya Gallery in London with her architect husband Ali Mousawi (2002-10) as a leading platform to promote and advance art from Iraq in particular and the Middle East in general. Served as a judge for the first Arab Art and Culture Award in the UK (2008) and was art resident at the Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris (2015/17/18).

Her work is in noteworthy collections including the British Museum, the National Museum for Women in the Arts (USA), Barjeel Foundation (UAE), Rotterdam Werldmuseum (Netherlands), National Museum (Jordan), Aga Khan Foundation (UK & Canada) as well as private collections including Hussain Harba (Italy), Ibrahimi collection and Ali Husry (Jordan), the late Basil Rahim (UK) and important others.

Maysaloun Faraj lives and works in London.

‘Growing up between the USA (1950s-1960s), Baghdad (1970s) and London (since 1982) with intermittent bouts in Paris, deeply enriched my life experience and contributed to shaping my output as a painter, ceramist and sculptor and as a person.’

Maysaloun Faraj’s visual vocabulary is colour and basic geometric form; an ideal realm for harmony and order. Amid an aesthetic informed by architectural discipline is a web of references bridging East and West, ancient and contemporary, often pondering on ‘spirituality’ and the transience of human existence. Displaced by decades of war, her work also contemplates the intersection of place and identity and explores the dynamics between overarching societal concerns and the highly personal.

Integral to the rise of interest in art from Iraq, with curatorial work including the first international showcase of modern and contemporary

W W W. M F A R A J . C O M

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