The exhibition consists of two works by Rushdi Anwar, Facing Living: The Past in the Present (2015) which shows a pair of hands that proceed to tear up and piece back together an official portrait of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein until the image is overwhelmed by black adhesive tape, an act that balances between destruction and creation, erasure and elegy for those who suffered under Hussein’s rule. The scond is titled We have found in the ashes what we have lost in the fire (2018) which is a response to Rushdi's recent experience of traveling to the town of Bashiqa located in north east Mosul, part of disputed territories between the Kurdistan Regional Government and Iraqi government. There, Rushdi visited the ruins of a church vandalised by ISIS fighter, hence his work explores unsettling similarities between the destruction, transience and renewal faced by displaced and uprooted communities globally and the built environments they are forced to leave.
Rushdi Anwaris a Melbourne-based artist, who was born in Halabja, Kurdistan. Currently he's working between Australia and Thailand. His installation, sculpture, painting, photo-painting and video work often reflect on socio-political issues relating to Kurdistan, Iraq and the Middle East.
Temporary Certainty Exhibition by 4A- Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, will be on in Sydney from 31st of August to 14th of October 2018, you can find out more here.
