Rushdi Anwar

"In My Abstract Work, I Delve Into Layers Of History Through Lines And Colors To Offer A Profound Visual Narrative That Transcends Traditional Storytelling. The Lines In My Art Symbolize The Passage Of Time, With Each Stroke Representing A Moment Or Era, Intertwining Personal And Collective Histories. Colors, Meanwhile, Evoke Emotional Responses And Cultural Significances, That Reflects The Complexities Of The Past. This Approach Allows Me To Explore And Communicate Themes Of Memory, Identity, And Transformation.  By Layering Lines And Colors, I Reveal Hidden Stories And Connections, Inviting Viewers To Engage With History On An Intuitive And Visceral Level. This Method Highlights The Multiplicity Of Historical Perspectives And Challenges Viewers To Consider How History Is Constructed And Interpreted Through The Abstract Interplay Of Form And Hue."

"This Work Centers On An Archival Photograph From The 1920S, Showing Three Warplanes—British, French, And German—Flying Over Kurdistan During The Colonial Partitioning Of The Middle East. These Aircraft, Once Tools Of Surveillance And Domination, Symbolize The Imperial Powers That Divided Lands From Above, Redrawing Borders With Disregard For The People Below. By Reframing This Image Through Layered Washes And Red Markers, I Expose The Violence Behind The Aerial Gaze. The Three Red Bars Beneath Mirror The Flags Of Empire, But Here They Stand As Quiet Resistance. This Painting Reflects On How Kurdistan Became A Territory Mapped And Erased By Others—A Homeland Fragmented In Flight. It Reclaims The Sky As A Space Of Memory, Not Mastery. |"