Iraqi-American painter Vian Sora’s work finds the beauty in decay

Iraqi-American painter Vian Sora’s work finds the beauty in decay
Vian Sora Traverses, 2022, mixed media on canvas 48 x 60 in (121.9 x 152.4 cm). (Supplied)
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Updated 27 January 2023
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Iraqi-American painter Vian Sora’s work finds the beauty in decay

Iraqi-American painter Vian Sora’s work finds the beauty in decay

DUBAI: March 2023 will mark the 20th anniversary of US-led invasion of Iraq, which led to destruction, displacement, and prolonged political instability. One of the millions who witnessed the chaos unfold is the Iraqi-American painter Vian Sora. “There is nothing that I don’t remember,” she says from her atelier in Louisville, Kentucky. 

On the night before the bombing began, Sora, who is of Kurdish origin, drove with her family from Baghdad to the town of Balad Ruz, around 120 kilometers away. “It was so visceral and scary,” she tells Arab News. “We all lived in just one house there — 30 of us slept in one room. We watched the B-52’s bomb Baghdad.”




Vian Sora, Hanging Gardens, 2022. Oil and mixed media on canvas 70 x 55 in (177.8 x 139.7 cm). (Supplied)

Sora was born in Baghdad in 1976, three years before Saddam Hussein came to power in Iraq, changing the course of political affairs in the Middle East. “Really, ever since I was a child, there was war and bombing,” she says.

Amid all the unrest, however, Sora discovered a passion for art. Her mother’s family owned a prominent auction business in Baghdad, where modernists like Faiq Hassan and Shakir Hassan Al-Said gathered, and Sora says she read as much as possible growing up about the Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid, in particular. “This was what (was) around,” she recalls. “I grew up in this kind of dreamy world that was parallel to the bombing.” 




Sora is of Kurdish origins. (Supplied)

In 2006, Sora left Iraq through the Kurdish/Turkish border, ending up in Istanbul. From there, she moved to the UK, the UAE and finally, the US, where she arrived in 2009. She hasn’t been back to Iraq since leaving, and says it was not an easy transition to life in the country that had invaded her own. 

“It was a culture shock. I felt like I always had to dumb down who I am to be accepted, but I also met some amazing people who supported me and my practice,” she says. “They were so hungry to learn more about us. I feel like I don’t just represent Iraq, I represent the whole region.” 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Vian Sora (@viansora)

The experience of surviving “29 years of war” has definitely seeped into Sora’s expressive canvases, housed in private and public collections in Iraq, the US, France, and Turkey. “Iraq affects everything in my work; it’s my DNA,” she says. “Once you’ve lived through the first three decades of your life in a country like Iraq, witnessing four or five wars, that cannot leave you.” 

The self-taught artist tries to leave that which she has endured in the background, like “a dead grandmother who protects you,” she says. Her work is inspired by both her own life and by global issues such as climate change and cultural destruction. She quotes what the German artist Anselm Kiefer once said about the role of an artist: To observe and do the work. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Vian Sora (@viansora)

She describes her large paintings, inspired by Middle Eastern history and aesthetics, as a form of ‘gestural abstraction.’ They are full of rich colors, floating shapes, dreamlike landscapes, and curious figures. There are portrayals of chaos, explosions, life and death — and of the moment after death, reaching the sublime. Decay, and seeing the beauty in it, is Sora’s obsession. 

“It’s an equivalent of my own life,” she says. “I feel like, the older we get, the more refined we’re supposed to be. I feel the decay that has happened within me is equivalent to the physical decay I see in artworks and palaces. We persevere through certain things, or we fail. We might be destroyed in the process, and that’s what interests me.”    

The physical act of painting is a way of staying whole. “I come to the studio super-early in the morning, shut the world off and put on my music. I’m immersed in that moment. It’s the best feeling,” she says. It is also a way of dealing with her post-traumatic stress disorder, caused by escaping near-death experiences. 

“The only way to get it out of me somehow, or to work with this, is to continuously repeat that feeling,” she explains. “In the end, I don’t want the work to be about death or terribleness. It will be, somehow, but I also want to create elements of beauty.” 


Actresses Halle Berry, Katrina Kaif to speak at Red Sea International Film Festival

Actresses Halle Berry, Katrina Kaif to speak at Red Sea International Film Festival
Updated 37 min 14 sec ago
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Actresses Halle Berry, Katrina Kaif to speak at Red Sea International Film Festival

Actresses Halle Berry, Katrina Kaif to speak at Red Sea International Film Festival

DUBAI: Red Sea International Film Festival organizers revealed on Wednesday that actresses Halle Berry and Katrina Kaif had been lined up to speak at the event’s third edition.

Dates for the stars’ talks are yet to be announced.

The festival, running from Nov. 30 to Dec. 9, will also host discussion panels with Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania, Australian costume designer Catherine Martin, Tunisian actor Dhafer L’Abidine, Indian director and TV personality Karan Johar, Egyptian actress Yasmine Sabri, Bollywood star Ranveer Singh, and Saudi filmmaking brothers Faris and Sohayb Godus.

 

 

American actress Berry kicked off her career as a model and took part in several beauty contests, finishing as the first runner-up in the Miss USA pageant and coming sixth in Miss World 1986.

The 57-year-old gained widespread recognition and acclaim for her performance in 2001’s “Monster’s Ball,” a role that earned her the Academy Award for best actress, making her the first African American woman to win in the category.

Her portrayal of Storm in the “X-Men” film series, and her iconic turn as Jinx Johnson in the 2002 James Bond film “Die Another Day,” are among her most well-known movie roles. She has received several accolades, including at the Primetime Emmy Awards, Golden Globe Awards, and Screen Actors Guild Awards.

 

 

British actress Kaif is one of the leading stars in the Indian film industry.

The 40-year-old has received widespread acclaim for her roles in various Bollywood flicks with one of her most popular performances coming in the action thriller “Ek Tha Tiger” in 2012, where she starred alongside Salman Khan. Her character Zoya, an intelligence agent, showcased both her acting prowess and on-screen charisma.

Another notable film in her career was “Jab Tak Hai Jaan,” directed by the legendary Yash Chopra.

 

 

The festival opens on Thursday with a screening of Iraqi director Yasir Al-Yasiri’s fantasy “HWJN.”

German actress Diane Kruger, Singh, and Saudi actor-writer Abdullah Al-Sadhan will receive career honors at the event.

Australian film director Baz Luhrmann will preside over the festival’s jury and will be joined by Swedish-American actor Joel Kinnaman (“The Suicide Squad”), Indian actress Freida Pinto (“Slumdog Millionaire”), Egyptian actress Amina Khalil (“Grand Hotel”), and Spaniard Paz Vega (“Sex and Lucia,” and “The OA”).


Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival to take place in December 

Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival to take place in December 
Updated 29 November 2023
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Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival to take place in December 

Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival to take place in December 

DUBAI: Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival is set to take place from Dec. 14-21 after being postponed twice due to the “distressing circumstances” in Gaza, organizers announced this week. 

The sixth edition, in collaboration with the Palestinian Film Institute, will be dedicated to Palestinian cinema. 

 

 

Organizers said in a statement on Instagram that this year’s edition aims “to shed light on the current situation and inhumane conditions in Gaza.

“Additionally, a fundraising dinner is planned to gather donations for humanitarian aid efforts in Gaza in coordination with the Egyptian Red Crescent during the festival.”

The event will be held without any celebrations to reaffirm its solidarity with the Palestinian people.


Review: ‘The House of the Coptic Woman’ is intelligent, complex and rich 

Review: ‘The House of the Coptic Woman’ is intelligent, complex and rich 
Updated 29 November 2023
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Review: ‘The House of the Coptic Woman’ is intelligent, complex and rich 

Review: ‘The House of the Coptic Woman’ is intelligent, complex and rich 

CHICAGO: In rural Upper Egypt, public prosecutor Nader Fayez Kamal arrives in the village of Tayea, where tension is high between Coptic and Muslim communities in award-winning novelist and legal scholar Ashraf El-Ashmawi’s novel, “The House of the Coptic Woman.” Beginning a new job as a deputy public prosecutor on the outskirts of town, Nader must navigate a tricky post with complicated relationships between people and the land they live on. Translated into English by Peter Daniel, Nader finds life away from Cairo more complex than he had hoped for, but faces it with a strong legal mind and a penchant for solving mysteries. 

On the night Nader arrives at the rest house to begin his new job, he meets a caretaker named Ramses who tells him that the lodge was originally built by a British irrigation engineer who was in charge of northern Upper Egypt before he was murdered in the 1940s. From that event, history changed the face of the village which by 1952, after the Egyptian revolution, changes its name to Tayea after the mayor. With a history of religious tension, Nader isn’t prepared for what’s about to happen. Coinciding with his arrival is the appearance of a young woman named Hoda who appears in the middle of the night with a secret that will change her life and that of those around her.  

With an atmosphere that is foreboding, El-Ashmawi’s incredible storytelling sets the mood as the novel shifts between Nader and Hoda. Between the divisive village life, arson attacks, murders that are never solved, and mysterious land acquisitions and sales, Nader and Hoda are thrown into a world where they are forced to tread carefully. Nader has a knack for stepping on toes but has to learn the hard way that the path to justice and peace can be messy.   

Setting a tone that is intelligent, complex, deceptive, and rich, El-Ashmawi’s novel encompasses sectarian strife and a debate about justice. There are laws that penalize for small offences and others in which the punishment is far less than the offense. In a place where justice is more concerned with politics, the protagonists will find themselves facing decisions that could alter their lives forever. 


Cynthia Nixon starts hunger strike to demand ceasefire in Gaza

Cynthia Nixon starts hunger strike to demand ceasefire in Gaza
Updated 29 November 2023
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Cynthia Nixon starts hunger strike to demand ceasefire in Gaza

Cynthia Nixon starts hunger strike to demand ceasefire in Gaza

DUBAI: US actress Cynthia Nixon on Monday began a hunger strike outside the White House to demand that US president Joe Biden call for a ceasefire in Gaza. 

According to Sky News, the “Sex And The City” actress said: “I am sick and tired of people explaining away by saying that civilian casualties are a routine toll of war. There is nothing routine about these figures. There is noting routine about these deaths.

“I would like to make a personal plea to a president who has, himself, experienced such devastating personal loss, to connect with that empathy for which he is so well known and to look at the children of Gaza and imagine that they were his children,” she said. 

Nixon will end her strike on Tuesday to return to New York for work commitments.

The star is joined by five politicians in the US: Delaware state representative Madinah Wilson-Anton, New York representative Zohran Mamdani, Oklahoma representative Mauree Turner, Virginia representative Sam Rasoul and Michigan representative Abraham Aiyash.
 


Metallica to perform in Riyadh in December

Metallica to perform in Riyadh in December
Updated 28 November 2023
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Metallica to perform in Riyadh in December

Metallica to perform in Riyadh in December

DUBAI: US metal band Metallica is set to perform in Saudi Arabia for the first time in December at the Kingdom’s much-anticipated music festival Soundstorm by MDLBeast.

The group’s gig will be in Riyadh on Dec. 14, the first night of the three-day event.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Metallica (@metallica)

The festival is also hosting international stars including Chris Brown, Pharrell Williams, Her, Tiesto, David Guetta, Black Eyed Peas, J Balvin and Anne-Marie.

Some of the Arab stars who will hit the stage include Elissa, Mahmoud El-Esseily, Hakeem, Majid Al-Mohandis, Mohamed Ramadan, Omaima Taleb, Rabeh Saqr, Dalia Mubarak, Ruby, Nancy Ajram, Ramy Sabry, Ahmed Saad, Hamid El-Shari and more.

The festival is yet to announce more international and regional artists taking part in this year’s edition.

Metallica’s Saudi show is part of the group’s M72 World Tour.