BIRDS OF WAR OPENING

The Birds of War private view was held on the 11th April, 2007 at the Candid Arts Trust Gallery in Islington. The opening was well subscribed, and we had approximately 150 people attending. Amongst the guests were Guardian political cartoonist Steve Bell, chair of CND Kate Hudson, Aaron Barschak (the 'comedy terrorist') and Venetia Porter from the British Museum.
 
As part of the evening's entertainment, Robert Llewellyn (Red Dwarf's 'Kryton') auctioned comedian Rory Bremner's prosthetic 'Tony Blair' ears for charity. The ears were kindly donated by VERA Productions as an alternative work of art, and are the ones which Rory has worn as Tony Blair throughout Channel 4's award-winning series 'Bremner, Bird and Fortune'.

The ears are now a collectable piece of political memorabilia, as they will never be worn again once Tony Blair steps down in May, 2007. We managed to raise over £200 for Medical Aid for Iraqi Children, and the lucky bidder was Georgina Pope from London. Guest speakers were Kate Hudson from CND and Chris Nineham from Stop the War Coalition. One of the artists, Kadhim Al-Khalifa, also read a piece of work which he had written especially for the occasion, entitled 'The Ordeal of Hope'. A transcript of this can be found at the foot of the page.

Below are some pictures of the artists, the auction, and a few of the guests who attended the private view.

 

 



 
 
Lou McKeever

 

 

 

 

 Alaa Siraih

 

 



 

 

Khulood al Daami with Rose Issa and Firyal Al-Adhamy

 

 

 

 

Some early arrivals

 

 

 

 


 CND's Kate Hudson with Andrew Burgin from Stop the War Coalition, plus friends

 

 

 

 


 Anahit Sarkes

 

 

 

 


 Some cheerful ceramics students

 

 

 

Adam Koukoudakis and Jonathan Urquhart read some of the names on
'We don't do Body Counts'

 

 

 

 


 Firyal Al-Adhamy

 

 

 


Sonia Warton and Sama Dabbas admire the 'Postcards from Mesopotamia' collection

 

 

 


 Andy Davey and Steve Bell

 

 

 


Kadhim Al-Khalifa's 'Deathfence' - representing the ugly, divisive slabs
of concrete which have sprung up all over Baghdad. The slabs form walls
which protect coalition-occupied zones, and are widely loathed by the local
population. The Americans are currently building a 3 mile long wall
(under cover of darkness) which will surround a Sunni district and divide
Baghdad communities even further.

 

 

 


 Kadhim Al-Khalifa with the War Drafts series

 

 

 

 


 Paula Tchamouroff, Fiona Lennard and Liz Zeitsman in front of work by Anahit Sarkes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Lucinda Goodhew and Stuart Lyon

 

 

 

Faisal Liaibi and Venetia Porter

 

 

 

Martha and Jessica Kinn

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 Maysaloun Faraj, Hana Mallalah, Alaa Siraih and Firyal Al-Adhamy

 

 

 


Detail from 'Assyrian Hunting Scene' by Firyal Al-Adhamy

 

 

 

 


 Aaron Barschak and Lou McKeever

 

 

 

 


 John and Holly Telling with Tanya Tier

 

 

 


A sketch of cartoonists (collective term?) from left to right: Andy Davey, Matt Buck, Morten Morland
and Lou McKeever

 

 

 


 Fiona Lennard and Liz Zeitsman study Tanya Tier's 'Body Counts'

 

 

 


 Nick Wood searches for weapons of mass destruction

 

 

 


Kadhim Al-Khalifa reads from 'The Ordeal of Hope' while Lou McKeever stands ready to translate.

 

 

 


 Kate Hudson, chair of CND

 

 

 


 Chris Nineham speaks for Stop the War Coalition, with work by Lou McKeever in the background

 

 

 


 David Wilson from Stop the War Coalition (centre) listens to the speeches with other guests

 

 

 


Tanya Tier announces the start of the auction of Rory Bremner's prosthetic 'Tony Blair' ears -
beautifully mounted in a display case.

Adam, Jessica and Martha Kinn look on in the background.

 

 

 


 Our intrepid auctioneer, Robert Llewellyn, swings into action with gusto

 

 

 


 The audience starts to bid...and tries to envisage what kind of party they would wear the ears to...

 

 

 


 Robert Llewellyn with the winning bidder, Georgina Pope from London

 

 

 


 The Neo Con-Artists look on inscrutably

 

 


 Fiona Lennard enjoys Alaa Siraih's work

 

 

 

 
Tanya Tier with artwork

 

 

 


 Steve Bell outstares Dick Cheney
(picture courtesy of the Islington Tribune)

 

 

 


 Another admirer of Anahit Sarkes' work

 

 

 


 John and Holly Telling with Dr Stephan Tchamouroff

 

 

 


Guests discuss Firyal Al-Adhamy's work

 

 

 

Dr Stephan Tchamouroff with Kadhim Al-Khalifa

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photos by Guy Smallman
www.guysmallman.com

 

 

THE ORDEAL OF HOPE
By Kadhim al-Khalifa

The situation in Iraq bears at the moment a painful paradox: As an era of a bloodthirsty regime came to a close with the end of its symbols being pushed to the darkness of oblivion and disgrace, new forces have waken up out of the same  darkness, equipped with stern religious fanaticism, with the soot of history and with enormous carelessness about life.

This led to push Iraq, the cradle of the first civilization and the museum of human being history, to become an open battlefield between the forces of darkness and despair. Among these forces you can find the war promoters, the arm dealers, the oil companies, the mercenaries of politics and religions, the leaders of nationalities and sects, and the gangs of killing and abduction.
Our life has been swept away to the darkness of Middle Ages; to the Inquisition Trials; or to what the scene of the Iraqi reality  expresses par excellence: to the abyss of savagery. When the experience of existence declines and falters, it would  target, first, the region of hope, i.e. the place that the artist occupies. At that moment he would be subjected to death, imprisonment, torture, exile, or he has to stay home and keep silent under the threat as a guard of his prison gate. The latest is the cruelest kind of oppression and humiliation.

As Iraqi artists who escaped the killing, the fear, the ideological and nationalistic traps, we are still in this difficult time attracted to hope whose source is the horizon of art; the horizon of life, its beauty, its lure; its joy; and our yearning to embrace its significance. This hope is the source of our enthusiasm and our strive in defending life. It has been a matter of life or death for the artist since eternity.

Kadhim al-Khalifa

 
 
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