A luminous chest-up portrait centers an unidentified woman facing forward, her expression focused and unyielding. Her eyes meet ours directly beneath sharply arched brows and long lashes while warm reds and cool shadows model her light-to-medium skin. A black crow perches close on her left shoulder, looking to the side like a watchful companion. Above, her hair erupts into a dramatic crown of flame-orange and red with whorls, ribbons, and looping marks dotted with bright rings that hover like sparks. Her dress is painted as overlapping, scale-like strokes in greens, aquas, yellows, and coral, creating a shimmering surface that feels protective and celebratory at once. The background melts into soft gold, mauve, and pale green with floating shapes, giving the figure an icon-like stillness inside a dreamlike atmosphere. The title only identifies the woman as being Maslawi (Moslawi), which means “from Mosul” or a person who belongs to the city of Mosul in northern Iraq. Artist Marwan Fathi, a Mosul-born painter and professor of fine arts, made this work after years of living through the city’s occupation and the devastating campaign that drove ISIS (Daesh) out. He has spoken about lasting trauma and still jolting awake at night expecting an airstrike, but his art insists on survival in full color. The crow is a close witness to coercion and fear, perched at the body’s edge but unable to eclipse her presence. The scale-like garment evokes fish skin and the Jonah-and-the-whale story tied to Mosul’s cultural memory. This was especially resonant after the destruction of Jonah’s shrine and turns local history into a symbol of endurance and return. Presented through Al-Ghad Radio’s documentation of Mosul’s cultural revival, the portrait is both testimony and reclamation depicting a woman rendered not as erased, but as radiant, composed, and unquestionably seen.
“Portrait of a Maslawi Woman” by مروان فتحي / Marwan Fathi (Iraqi) - Oil on canvas / 2019 - Al-Ghad Radio (Mosul, Iraq) #WomenInArt #MarwanFathi #مروان_فتحي #Fathi #AlGhadRadio #PortraitofaWoman #Maslawi #BlueskyArt #IraqiArt #art #arte #artText #artwork #IraqiArtist #Symbolism #ContemporaryPortrait
