In 2006, as everyone else in northern Baghdad was closing down shop, Hassan Nassar opened an art gallery in the hopes that the arts could help his neighbors battle the feelings of fear and hatred that overwhelm the regions. The gallery is not profitable financially speaking, but it maintains an intellectual wealth that is sadly missing in the country torn by civil war.
Quote: Baghdad gallery owner clings to redemptive virtues of art
"Few people outside the shrinking Iraqi art world know of Nassar, and the trickle of visitors to his Madarat Gallery suggests that many Iraqis would find his notion quixotic. Furthermore, the gallery, the only one left in Baghdad with frequently rotating exhibits, is far from profitable.
"But Nassar persists all the same, passing his days drinking cups of sugary black tea with a scattering of artists and bohemians in the gallery's courtyard cafe, decorated with friends' paintings and a stand of tall ficus plants. They talk about culture, politics and their shared belief that the salvation of Iraq rests with the redeeming and ennobling virtues of art."
Art does not exist in a vacuum -- if I learned anything from four years of art school it is that. Pre-war, Iraqi artists were limited in their expression (as were Iraqi non-artists) and the toppling of Saddam Hussein flushed the arts community with a renewed hope. Unfortunately, shortly thereafter, as the insurgency began, artists were once again living in fear. Many have concluded, according to the article linked above, that their lives as artists were better and more productive under Hussein. This is not an uncommon sentiment in Iraq.
And while times like these are great fodder for artists, (especially those who create works based on social and political commentary), the first thing to suffer is the arts. And when the insurgency began, Iraqis stopped spending money on everything except the bare essentials.
Enter Nassar, who believes that there is still hope, not just for the Iraqi art world, but for Iraq as a whole. And it seems that Nassar's gallery is safe, at least for now, from the sectarian rivalries that are explosively present elsewhere in Baghdad as well as the rest of the country. Nassar's situation, and sentiments are rare in Iraq right now, but that speaks to the virtues of art and culture.
Throughout history, times of strife have not only been fuel for artists, but conflicts are often fueled by artists. The French Revolution, for instance, had most of its contributors brought to it by art and artists. It would seem that something very similar is beginning to sprout in Iraq, thanks in part, to Nassar.
As we say in Year Zero, Art is Resistance.
