Walid Siti (born 1952,
Duhok,
Iraqi Kurdistan
Iraqi Kurdistan or Southern Kurdistan ( ku, باشووری کوردستان, Başûrê Kurdistanê) refers to the Kurdish-populated part of northern Iraq. It is considered one of the four parts of "Kurdistan" in Western Asia, which also incl ...
) is a Kurdish painter and artist. He is currently based in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, United Kingdom.
Education and early life
He was born into a family of a
Sunni Muslim
Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word ''Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagree ...
background and had four brothers and a sister.
His father was involved in the Kurdish revolutionary movement and often in prison.
The father was the breadwinner of his family and as his was often absent, he and his siblings had to work after school. His artistic skills have already raised some awareness in primary school, but weren't met with appraisal by the family at the time.
Nevertheless, his father supported his desire to study art.
He studied art at the Institute of Fine Arts in
Baghdad
Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...
from which he graduated in 1976.
He then travelled to
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...
(present day
Slovenia
Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...
) and where he studied
graphic art
A category of fine art, graphic art covers a broad range of visual artistic expression, typically two-dimensional, i.e. produced on a flat surface. between 1977 and 1982 at the Academy of Fine Arts in
Ljubljana
Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center.
During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the ar ...
, from where he obtained a
MSc.
In 1984 he moved on to London due to the difficult situation in
Baathist Iraq
Ba'athist Iraq, formally the Iraqi Republic until 6 January 1992 and the Republic of Iraq thereafter, covers the national history of Iraq between 1968 and 2003 under the rule of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. This period began with high econ ...
.
Artistic career
He has developed a proficiency in several artistic fields like painting, printing and installations.
Initially trained in artistic prints his artwork is now also including sketches and paintings.
In his artistic artwork he lets himself get inspired by his cultural heritage of his homeland.
Exhibitions
* 1987, ''Three Kurdish Artists'', Kufa Gallery, London
* 1994, ''Timescapes'', curated by Rose Issa, Leighton House Museum, London
* 2008, ''Land on Fire'', curated by Rose Issa, Leighton House Museum, London
* 2011, ''The River Zei'', Rose Issa Projects, London.
* 2012, ''Alienation'', Barjeel Art Foundation,
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
* 2013, ''In Dialogue'' with
Modhir Ahmed, Abdulrahim Sharif and
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa
Shaikh Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa (born 1952) is a member of the Bahraini royal family, an artist and the Chairman of Bahrain's National Council for Arts. He is the first president and the current honorary president of the Bahrain Arts Society ...
at the Art Centre,
Bahrain
Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...
.
* 2017, ''The Black Tower'', Zilberman Gallery'','' Berlin
Further reading
Walid Siti,
Kehrer Verlag
Kehrer Verlag is an art book publisher based in Heidelberg, Germany, specializing in photography, fine art, and sound art. Its books are produced in cooperation with Kehrer Design, the affiliated office for design and image processing.
History
T ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Siti, Walid
Kurdish male artists
1954 births
Living people