Hayv Kahraman

Born 1981 in Baghdad, Iraq
Lives and works in Los Angeles, USA

Hayv Kahraman was born in Iraq and immigrated to Sweden as a refugee due to the Gulf War when she was eleven. She then moved to the US after studying visual arts in Italy, and is currently based in Los Angeles.

She tackles through her works with political issues such as immigration, religion in particular Islam, and feminism while at the same time refers to the gap of the recognition of the reality between those who face such problems and the authorized white or male. She often depicts female figures who perform some kind of ritual with multiple people and who take poses which imply sexual intercourse. They represent the collective memory of the people of the Middle East towards the inculcation of European culture or her challenges towards colonialism and European ideals. Influenced by miniature paintings of medieval Middle East, the Renaissance, and even Japanese ink paint, female figures painted in her works seem to make an appeal to us spectators through their deadpan gaze while give a feeling of mysterious and exotic which is not identical to any of the country.

（Commentary & Translation：Tomoya Iwata）

Hayv Kahraman
Jack Shainman Gallery