Hayv Kahraman

Hayv Kahraman
Born	Hayv Kahraman 1981 Baghdad, Iraq
Nationality	Iraqi American
Known for	Painting, Drawing, Sculpture

Hayv Kahraman (born 1981) is an Iraqi artist. She primarily paints, but also sculpts and sketches. Her works reflect the controversial issues of gender, specifically concerning female identity in relation to her experiences as a refugee, and all issues that plague her home country of Iraq. Hayv currently lives and works in California, United States.

Life and career

Born in Baghdad, Iraq in 1981. During the Iran War, Hayv spent a lot of her time in the basement of her uncle's house. Her relatives would all huddle around candles and play card games. While living in Iraq, she attended the Music and Ballet School in central Baghdad. One night, her family packed their car and hired a smuggler to take them where it was safe. They had reached the Stockholm Arlanda, the airport in Sweden, and this is when she became a refugee. She then moved to Sweden at the age of 11. She enrolled in music and ballet classes, but decided to leave due to the teacher's racism. She began oil painting at the age of 12 and later had several successful exhibitions in Sweden. She studied at the Academy of Art and Design in Florence, Italy. This is where she met her husband, Anthony Velasquez. Kahraman's artwork depict the effects of war, and how they affect women. Her wide stylistic references range from Japanese and Arabic calligraphy art nouveau, Persian miniature and Greek iconography.

Her Works

War-aq, the Arabic word for playing cards, is a very personal group of her works. She combined the idea of a scattered deck of cards with the experiences of five million displaced Iraqis. Migrant 11 is a series of a contorted dancer that refers to the deformation of the self due to migration. This work relates to her personal experience of attending the music and ballet school in central Baghdad. Migrant 3 is a self portrait of herself cutting off her tongue to represent the loss of language and communication through her life experiences.

Solo and Group Exhibitions

• 2016 - Hayv Kahraman, Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska, October 8, 2016 – January 8, 2017
• 2016 - No Man’s Land: Women Artists from the Rubell Family Collection, Miami, Florida
• 2015 - June: A Painting Show, Sadie Coles HQ, London
• 2015 - UNREALISM: Presented by Larry Gagosian and Jeffrey Deitch.
• 2016 - Us Is Them, The Pizzuti Collection, Columbus, Ohio
• 2015 - How Iraqi Are You?, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York
• 2013 - Let the Guest be the Master, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York
• 2013 - Echoes: Islamic Art and Contemporary Artists, Curated by Kim Masteller, Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas, Aug 31st 2013 - March 30th 2014
• 2013 - The jameel, Art inspired by Islamic tradition, Curated by Salma Tuqan, San Antonio Museum of Art, San Antonio, May 24th 2013
• 2012 - Fertile Crescent, Rutgers Paul Robeson Gallery, Newark, Aug 13th, 2012
• 2012 - Newtopia: the State of Human Rights, Curated by Katerina Gregos, Kazerne Dossin Museum, Belgium, Dec 1st 2012
• 2009 - Marionettes, The Third Line, Doha
  • - Life Drawing, The Third Line, Dubai
  • - New Works, Thierry Goldberg Projects, New York, New York
  • - Solo presentation by Thierry Goldberg Projects at Volta, New York
  • - The 9th Sharjah Biennial, Sharjah, UAE
  • - Unveiled: New Art from the Middle East, The Saatchi Gallery, London, UK
• 2008 - I-Ling Eleen Lin & Hayv Kahraman, Thierry Goldberg Projects, New York, NY
  • - Local Produce, The Lisa Sette Gallery, Scottsdale, U.S.A
• 2007 - Life Drawing, The Third Line, Dubai, United Arab Emirate
• 2007 - International Women’s Day, Erbil, Iraq
• 2007 - Celebrating Women in the Arts, Diyarbakir, Turkey (solo)
• 2006 - Daemons, Phoenix Theatre, Phoenix, U.S.A
• 2005 - Accademia di Arte e Design, Florence, Italy
• 2003 - Thoughts on Canvas, Hudiksvall’s Museum, Hudiksvall, Sweden (solo)

External links

• Official Site

http://www.jackshainman.com/artists/hayv-kahraman/

• Hayv Kahraman at The Third Line

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/27/arts/design/hayv-kahraman-how-iraqi-are-you.html?_r=0