In Conversation With : Ahmed Naji Part 1

Author Daf Beirut

A series of in depth interviews with Arthur Debsi, writer and researcher at Dalloul Art Foundation where he discusses various subjects with professionals in the Arab world.

Ahmed Naji - Independent Art Researcher and Cultural Consultant on Modern and Contemporary Iraqi Art

Part 1. In 1938, the Iraqi architect Mohamed Makiya (1914-2015) and the Iraqi artist Jewad Selim (1919-1961) met each other in Paris. Through a common path, and collaboration, these two figures played a key role in the artistic and cultural modern movement in Iraq, as of the 1940s. Launched in 2019, Under The Palm Trees: Modern Iraqi Art with Mohamed Makiya and Jewad Selim, accurately covers the elaboration and development of the modern art movements in Iraq, through an important corpus of archives from Mohamed Makiya’s collection. In the first part of the conversation, Ahmed Naji presents the connection between Mohamed Makiya (1914-2015) and Jewad Selim (1919-1961), gives an overview of the medieval Baghdad, and the official birth of the associations of artists in the first half of the 20th century.

Video recorded on Zoom by Arthur Debsi

Edited by Christine Labban