Written by MYSA KAFIL-HUSSAIN

Born in 1965 in a village near Babel, Iraq, Ahmed Al Bahrani spent much of his youth molding figures from clay he found on the banks of the nearby Euphrates River.^[1]From a young age, he was surrounded by landscapes, which shaped his growing imagination, and also was very aware of how much he appreciated ancient monuments during school trips compared to his peers. He preferred his creative solitude to playing with other kids, and retreated to the riverside, using symbols and signs from his local environment to create his clay forms and give them names.^[2]This was just the beginning of a career, which would go far beyond his local surroundings, developing into innovative abstract and conceptual art using a range of mediums and addressing a multitude of modern issues.

At the age of 16, Al Bahrani became one of only 12 people out of 3000 hopeful students to pass the entrance exam for the Institute of Fine Arts in Baghdad, a place he had dreamt of studying in for many years. He had his family’s support, and with that, plenty of determination to make a success out of his educational opportunities.^[3]Working extremely hard, he often tried to push himself, his techniques and his ideas beyond the scope of the curriculum, training under renowned sculptors such as Abdul Rahim al-Wakil and Ismail Fattah.^[4]Fattah had a profound influence on a young Al Bahrani, but he felt that he didn’t want to imitate or blindly follow the late sculptor’s personal vision, preferring to pave his own way instead: “Fattah told me that he felt I had managed to escape his influence and that is when l felt l was really getting somewhere”.[5]After graduating in 1988, Al Bahrani continued with his work, experimenting with sculptures, reliefs and prints. In 1992, he started working at the Academy of Fine Arts in Baghdad, where he taught art students for two years before leaving Iraq in 1994. 

Choosing a life of exile instead of a life under the rule of Saddam Hussein, Al Bahrani moved to Amman, where he struggled a great deal with his new life.^[6]He moved to Yemen, and then to Doha, Qatar, where he opened Mimar Gallery with architect Hazem Abu Naba’a.^[7] He later settled in Sweden, and now lives between Doha and Stockholm. Al Bahrani has consistently taken part in prolific exhibitions around the world as well as having many solo exhibitions in that time. He co-curated an exhibition entitled ‘Birds’ at Albareh Gallery in Bahrain in 2010, a first for the artist, and also participated in Art Basel in Miami in 2013. Art Basel was a big achievement for Al Bahrani, one that he himself saw as “an important and significant turning point”,^[8]especially as his work had distinct anti-war themes, which could be a source of controversy in the US. Receiving recognition on such a key international stage would be deemed a success to most artists, but Al Bahrani felt that, as an Iraqi artist, and despite all the struggles he had faced, he was extremely proud of not just himself but of his country.^[9]

“Maybe I caused distortion to the music of my injured city and pain to my people while searching for a new place to build my own ancient history. For years I have been travelling from one exile to another and not being able to forget Iraq and its epic chant…There is no place on this beloved earth of ours for me like Iraq” - Ahmed Al Bahrani ^[10]

Over the last 20 years, Al Bahrani has embarked on many large public projects. Mainly using his preferred materials of iron and bronze (which he also uses for his smaller sculptures) Al Bahrani has been commissioned for projects such as his Olympic rings sculpture for the 2006 Asian Games in Qatar, a monument which Al Bahrani hoped would show the complexity of iron: “I want them to see that it is fluid, that it has movement and emotion in it”.^[11]Amongst many others, he also designed an innovative installation entitled ‘The Challenge 2015’ for the 24^thMen’s Handball World Championship in Qatar, and ‘Flag of Glory’ in 2019, placed just outside the National Museum of Qatar, which he hoped would “speak to every person who lives in this land”.^[12]Al Bahrani’s work – both large and small – is consistently subjected to his dynamic imagination, with materials perceived as fixed and heavy creating abstract, fluid forms. His distinct style is evident in his 2015 artwork entitled Nest, which can be found in the Dalloul Collection. Marrying an intimate knowledge of his chosen materials with a deeper exploration into his culture, symbolism and modern issues, The Nest quite literally takes on the form of a bird’s nest, an ordinary object, but now used as a repository for a range of military equipment.^[13]Fusing the natural environment with the visual legacy of war, it suggests the modern reality of the two being inseparable in many parts of the world, and especially in his home, Iraq. 

By focusing on the creative capabilities of raw materials and the interactions of shadows and light, Al Bahrani’s work always has a sense of movement and spontaneity and, in the words of May Muzaffar, a dynamism which enables his often colourless forms to be enriched with an aesthetic power.[^14]Al Bahrani continues to create, innovate and exhibit around the world to this day. 

Notes

[1]Nada al-Awar (2005), “Ahmad al Bahrani: Heavyweight Creativity”, n.pag

[2]May Muzaffar (N.d.), “The Dynamism of Iron Works”, n.pag

[3]Al-Awar (2005), n.pag

[4]Riyadh Al-Muhammadawi (2014), “النحات العراقي أحمد البحراني ... مصمم كأس الخليج وصاحب الرقم القياسي لأكبر حصان برونزي في العالم”, n.pag

[5]Al-Awar (2005), n.pag

[6]Ibid

[7]Selections (N.d), “Ahmed Al Bahrani”, n.pag

[8]Al-Muhammadawi (2014), n.pag

[9]Ibid

[10]Ahmed Al Bahrani (2013), “Ahmed Al-Bahrani”,p.288

[11]Al-Awar (2005), n.pag

[12]National Museum of Qatar (2019), “Flag of Glory - Ahmed Al Bahrani”, n.pag

[13]Maymanah Farhat (2015), “Iraqi Artists in Exile”, p.130

[14]Muzaffar (N.d), “The Dynamism of Iron Works”, n.pag

Sources

Al-Awar, Nada (2005). “Ahmad al Bahrani: Heavyweight Creativity”. In Canvas: Art and Culture from the Middle East and Arab World, Vol. 1 Issue 4, n.pag. Dubai: Mixed Media Publishing.   

Accessed via Onefineart.com. Accessed June 2020. https://www.onefineart.com/internal-page/sculptor-ahmed-bahrani/Ahmed-Al-Bahrani-Heavyweight-creativity

Al-Bahrani, Ahmed (2013). “Ahmed Al-Bahrani”. In Mary Angela Schroth (ed), Longing for Eternity: One Century of Modern and Contemporary Iraqi Art – From the Hussain Ali Harba Family Collection, Milan: Skira Editore, pp. 288-289

Farhat, Maymanah (2015). “Iraqi Artists in Exile”. In Selections Magazine:Arts/Style/Culture from the Arab World and Beyond, No. 30, Dubai: Selections Publishing House, pp. 123-138

Al-Muhammadawi, Riyadh (2014). “النحات العراقي أحمد البحراني ... مصمم كأس الخليج وصاحب الرقم القياسي لأكبر حصان برونزي في العالم”. Alhakikanews.com. Accessed June 2020. http://www.alhakikanews.com/index.php/permalink/21673.html

Muzaffar, May (N.d.). “The Dynamism of Iron Works”. Onefineart.com. Accessed June 2020. https://www.onefineart.com/internal-page/sculptor-ahmed-bahrani/Dynamism-of-Iron-Works-May-Muzaffar

National Museum of Qatar (2019). “Flag of Glory – Ahmed Al Bahrani”, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AwegZnfGfQ. Accessed 20 June 2020.

(N.d.) “Ahmed Al Bahrani”. Selections: Arts/Style/Culture from the Arab World and Beyond. Selectionsarts.com. Accessed June 2020. https://selectionsarts.com/portfolio-posts/ahmed-al-bahrani/