Iraqi artist Kareem Risan’s earlier work reflected his experiences of living through war and invasion in his country. But the style and content of his work has changed after he moved from Baghdad to Toronto in 2008. In his first solo exhibition in Dubai, “Steps in Migration”, the artist is exhibiting a series of mixed media paintings and ink drawings that speak about his experiences and emotions as an immigrant who has been forced by circumstances to move to a new country.
The stories he shares range from the difficulties of coping with the cold climate and new social setting to the challenges of getting his voice heard as an artist and dealing with feelings of displacement and isolation.
“Migration is not a new theme; but I have attempted to give an artistic and human vision based on my personal experience of migration by documenting the various steps I have taken to re-establish myself in a new country, society, culture and art market. My paintings reflect the many unanswered questions I have struggled with, such as how to adapt my style and vision as an artist to become part of a new cultural milieu; and how to retain my artistic and cultural heritage in a new environment,” the artist says.
The change in his environment is reflected in the changes in the materials, style and palette he uses. “In Baghdad I had a huge studio with lots of light, but in Canada I work in the constrained space of the basement of my townhouse. So instead of large oil paintings on wooden board, I now work on canvas, which I can roll; and use acrylic because it dries faster and does not smell.
“I also moved from an abstract to an expressionist figurative style because I felt that abstraction is not enough to express myself now. I also had to replace the warm earth tones in my palette that depicted the reddish golden loam and clay of Iraq with whites and blues to depict the cold and the snow that engulfs everything in the Canadian winter. I had never worked with white as a colour before, and found it difficult. But in these paintings it has become a colour of erasure and effacement of old habits and memories,” he says.
The figures in Risan’s paintings are naked, minimalistic, skeletal and often unfinished. They seem to be floating in undefined spaces, reflecting the artist’s sense of disorientation and lack of rootedness in his new environment. Risan’s bespectacled figure appears in every painting, often with both ears on one side indicating his desire to focus intensely on everything that is happening around him. The other figures represent the people he has interacted with in Toronto.
Each painting tells a story about his struggles as an immigrant. “Loyalty Oath on a Cold Day” recalls his mixed emotions on swearing allegiance to a new country and Queen. “When I said ‘I do’ to the judge, I was thinking about the price I had to pay for the new nationality; and I could hear a distant voice telling me that this is not my home,” he says.
The turbaned man in, “Treatment for Memory Recovery” is the Indian doctor Risan consulted when he suffered from stress induced memory lapses. But another mysterious black figure also appears in the painting. “The question marks in the doctor’s speech bubble represent the numerous questions he asked me about my past and present. But they also refer to my own questions about my future in a new land. These questions haunt me like distant voices that sometimes take the form of small figures calling me, talking to me or whispering in my ears,” he says.
In “Man is not Made to Live Below Zero” Risan complains about the climate in Canada, by depicting himself as a wooden mannequin frozen in one position, and with limbs broken. But one part of this mostly white painting is done in warm yellows and oranges as a reminder of the warmth of his homeland.
The lack of communication with his new community is a central theme in the show. This is symbolised by disconnected plugs, empty speech bubbles, closed, concentric circles, and map lines indicating distance. In paintings such as “Failed Dialogue of Different Cultures” the artist highlights the fact that though Canada has a multicultural society of immigrants, people are separated by barriers of language, culture and religion. And “No One Hears Me” shows Risan surrounded by unplugged spotlights and microphones, expressing his frustration that his voice as an artist is not heard in the new art scenario.
Another poignant work is a painting of a Native American artist that Risan befriended in Canada. “I strongly empathise and identify with Native Americans, who have lost their land and cultural heritage. It is ironical that he is a stranger in his own land, which has become a foreign land; and I am a stranger in a foreign land, which has become my land,” he says.
The show also features a series of black ink drawings on paper, titled, “Memories of Cold Nights”. “These reflect my dreams and memories of beautiful and not so nice days. They look like the etchings I used to do in Baghdad, and express my longing for the kind of art practice I had back home,” Risan says.
Steps in Migration will run at Meem Gallery until January 10.
Jyoti Kalsi is an arts enthusiast based in Dubai