Meem Gallery presents an exhibition of new work by the acclaimed Iraqi artist Mahmoud Obaidi.
Speaking truth to power has never been something Mahmoud Obaidi has shied away from in his work. The artist was introduced to the notion of injustice from his adolescence, and has since spent much of his life processing the destruction of his homeland and the isolation of exile. At the same time, he has found commonality in the suffering of a myriad of communities around the world who have also faced the brutal force of racism, occupation and inconceivable loss. In creating art which confronts these complex issues, Obaidi looks beyond simplistic politics and perceptions of identity, instead seeking to uncover and understand trauma from a historical, structural and geographical lens. As with much of Obaidi’s oeuvre, this latest body of work is made up of a multitude of layers which lie behind the external, visible yet abstract structures, shapes and colour, revealing a visual inquiry which goes far beyond the difficult topics which he seeks to tackle - namely colonisation and genocide - and simultaneously forces him to look within and explore his own personal sense of displacement.
About the Artist
Mahmoud Obaidi is an Iraqi conceptual artist who lives and works between Doha and Beirut. Obtaining a BA in fine art from the Academy of Fine Arts, Baghdad in 1990, Obaidi went on to complete a Master’s of Fine Arts at the University of Guelph in Canada in 1999. The artist has also received a diploma in New Media from Ryerson University, Toronto and, in 1998, a further diploma in film producing from HIF Film Academy, Los Angeles.
Characterized by contemporary politics and a sardonic sense of humour, Obaidi works in many materials, allowing the concept behind a particular work to determine his choice of media.
Solo exhibitions include, Fragments, Qatar Museums Gallery, Doha, 2016; Fair Skies, Project Space, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha, 2016; The Replacement, Meem Gallery, Dubai, 2014 and The Replacement, Contemporary Art Platform, Kuwait City, 2014.
Recent group exhibitions include: Artists Making Books: Poetry to Politics, The British Museum, London, 2023, Interactions, Istanbul Modern, 2021; Theater of Operations: The Gulf Wars 1991–2011, PS1 MoMA, NYC, 2019; Living Histories, British Museum, London, 2017; 57th Venice Biennale, Venice, 2017; Baghdad Manifesto, Saatchi Gallery, London, 2016; 56th Venice Biennale, Venice, 2015; Hajj: Journey to the Heart of Islam, Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, 2013; 25 Years of Arab Creativity, Instituit du Monde Arabe, Paris, 2012; Art in Iraq Today, Meem Gallery, Dubai, and Beirut Exhibition Centre, Beirut; 2011; Modernism and Iraq, Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University, New York, 2009.
Mahmoud Obaidi’s work is held in multiple international institutions and museum collections, including Istanbul Modern; Mathaf: Museum of Modern Arab Art, Doha; British Museum, London; Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah; National Gallery of Fine Arts, Amman; Ibrahimi Collection, Amman; Sharjah Art Museum, Sharjah; the Museum of Modern Art, Baghdad; Musee d’Art Contemporain de Baie-Saint-Paul, Quebec: Nabu Museum, Lebanon and The Dalloul Art Foundation in Beirut.
Mosquito Effects will run at Meem Gallery from the 28th of February until the 30th of May 2023.
