This oil painting blends portrait realism with the visual language of antiquity via jewelry, music, smoke, and Egyptian pyramids to frame a near-mythic woman as both person and symbol. The pyramids act like a condensed sign of lineage like history made monumental while incense suggests ritual, remembrance, and continuity. Dropped slippers and a kneeling pose add tenderness and humanity to the “royal” staging, shifting the emphasis from dominance to presence and poise. A young woman is shown kneeling on a patterned ground covering, her body turned three-quarters while her face angles outward with a steady, peaceful calm. Her black hair is tucked beneath a richly patterned gold-colored headdress topped by a long feather that arcs upward. Gold hoop earrings, stacked bracelets, and a layered necklace catch warm light, echoing gilded accents woven through her sash and belt. Cream-colored fabric from her tunic pools in soft folds around her knees, painted with close attention to weight and sheen. One hand gracefully plucks faint strings of a tall, vertical harp, while the other steadies its ornate base including a stylized head. In front, sits a pair of golden pointed-toe slippers and to the right a brazier or incense burner sends up a ribbon of smoke. Behind her, multiple pyramids rise in the distance under a storm-dark sky, with a thin band of fiery light at the horizon. Painted in Iraq in 2002, the work’s crisp realism feels like intentional steadiness against an unsettled atmosphere for a carefully held image of endurance, where the distant glow at the horizon feels less like spectacle than a quiet, guarded hope. Iraqi artist Mozahim Al-Nasiri (مزاحم الناصري) was born in Mosul and trained at Baghdad’s Academy of Fine Arts. When this canvas was made, he was an independent painter, building a practice known for highly finished, psychologically attentive portraiture. He left Iraq in 2003, among those whose careers were reshaped by the country’s upheaval and dispersal.

“Pharaonic Girl (أميرة فرعونية)” by Mozahim Al-Nasiri (مزاحم الناصري) (Iraqi) - Oil on canvas / 2002 - Ibrahimi Collection (Amman, Jordan) #WomenInArt #IbrahimiCollection #MozahimAlNasiri #مزاحمالناصري #AlNasiri #AncientEgypt #IraqiArt #artText #artwork #BlueskyArt #IraqiArtist #PortraitofaWoman

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

A stylized portrait of a woman fills the canvas, rendered in bold, flat planes of color. Her face is painted in saturated reds and oranges, with large, luminous green eyes that look outward with a tired steadiness. A green headscarf wraps her hair and neck, edged with small gold dots. A decorative earring hangs from an exposed ear. In the foreground, a large open palm rises like a protective screen, painted in cool turquoise and deep green, with an almond-shaped eye set into the hand. Beside it, a second hand form appears as a geometric emblem, its shapes broken into triangles and blocks of yellow, teal, and red form a small red bird near the edge. Behind her, a half-circle fan of dark and light green segments crowns the scene, while an arched window and a balcony railing. The overall palette leans heavily into greens layered from emerald to sea-glass so the woman’s red face is both presence and alarm, as if she is lit from within. Created in Mosul in 2019, Iraqi artist Al-Tai (لبنى الطائي) links this woman’s gaze to a broader community of Maslawi women and frames the raised palm as a hamsa-like hand-shaped amulet of protection found across the Middle East and North Africa. The painting’s repeated “hand-and-eye” motif feels like a wish for safety made visible to ward off harm, refuse silence, and insist on being seen. Al-Tai notes that “Maslawi women were the biggest victims under Daesh-occupied Mosul,” and the fractured geometry throughout the composition echoes lives reshaped by occupation and aftermath including home spaces altered and bodies carrying memory. Yet the work is not only elegy as the greens mark endurance and renewal, and the small bright, alert, and perched bird introduces a note of survival. By placing an interfaith symbol of care (known variously as the Hand of Fatima, Miriam, or Mary) at the painting’s center, Al-Tai turns protection into a shared language for an image of communal guarding, and of a city’s women holding one another upright.

“The Woman” by Lubna Al-Tai (Iraqi) - Oil on canvas / 2019 - Al-Ghad Radio (Mosul, Iraq) #WomenInArt #WomensArt #WomanArtist #WomenArtists #LubnaAlTai #لبنى_الطائي #AlTai #AlGhadRadio #IraqiArt #Hamsa #art #artText #artwork #BlueskyArt #ContemporaryArtist #Maslawi #IraqiArtist #WomenPaintingWomen

“A Glimpse of Iraq”
Through this painting, I wanted to capture the soul of old Iraqi streets — the light, the history, and the strength of its people.
Every shadow tells a story, and every color holds a memory.

#IraqiArt #OilPainting #MiddleEasternArt #ArtOfIraq #CulturalHeritage #AkramTheArtist

Mohammed "Hajji" Selim (Iraq, 1883-1941), "Still Life," nd; photo: Bonhams. #art #artmuseum #iraqiart #stilllife #modernart

Exposition jusqu’au 2 novembre 2025 musée Champollion, les Écritures du Monde, Figeac (Lot)

#figeac #lot #exposition #museechampollionfigeac
#HassanMassoudy #arabiccalligraphy #calligraphiearabe #calligraphy #calligraphie
#islamiccalligraphy #massoudy #iraqiartist #iraqiart #islamicart

Hi - I’m AkramTheArtist, an Iraqi visual artist. As an artist from a region often underrepresented in global media, I humbly ask if you might consider writing a piece about my work in support of emerging artists. Your voice would mean a lot. Thank you from Iraq 🇮🇶🎨 #IraqiArt #SupportArtists

@hyperallergic.com Hello 👋 I’m AkramTheArtist, an Iraqi contemporary artist. I respectfully ask if you would consider writing a feature article about my work and artistic journey. It would mean a lot to have your support and representation. Thank you from Iraq 🇮🇶🎨 #IraqiArt #ContemporaryArt

Hello hyperallergic - I’m AkramTheArtist, an Iraqi contemporary artist. I respectfully ask if you would consider writing a feature article about my work and artistic journey. It would mean a lot to have your support and representation. Thank you from Iraq 🇮🇶🎨 #IraqiArt #ContemporaryArt

Hello Hyperallergic I’m AkramTheArtist, a contemporary visual artist from Iraq. Is it possible to share my artwork or have an article about it featured on your page? 🎨 #IraqiArt

Exposition du 5 juillet au 2 novembre 2025 musée Champollion, les Écritures du Monde, Figeac

#figeac #museechampollionfigeac
#HassanMassoudy #arabiccalligraphy #calligraphiearabe #calligraphy #calligraphie
#islamiccalligraphy #massoudy #iraqiartist #iraqiart #islamicart #arabiccalligraffiti

Iraq's Kurdish Genocide and Three Wars: Artists Osman Ahmed & Fakher Mohammed A joint Arab/Kurdish exhibition at Baghdad’s The Gallery showcased how the nation’s two solitudes can unite through art.

🎨 [TMR 51 • MEZZE]

In Baghdad, a rare Arab-Kurdish show brings Osman Ahmed & Fakher Mohammed into powerful dialogue on war, genocide & cultural memory.

🔗 Read: bit.ly/iraqs-kurdish...

#TMRweekly #IraqiArt #KurdishGenocide

👑 Crown of Sorrow
I was never a king… but my face aged from the weight of pain.
I never wore a crown, yet life placed its sorrow upon my head.
🎨 From my work — #AkramTheArtist
"My crown is heavy… but it's made of patience."
#Art #IraqiArt #Painting #Watercolor #Artist #Drawing
#ArtistOnBlueSky

Look deep into nature and you will understand everything. Einstein
تأمل الطبيعة ، وستفهم كل شيء ـ اينشتاين
Contemple la nature et tu comprendras tout.

#HassanMassoudy #arabiccalligraphy #calligraphiearabe #calligraphy #calligraphie
#islamiccalligraphy #massoudy #iraqiartist #iraqiart #islamicart