ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Contemporary Kurdish artist Ahmad Nabaz is invited to attend the Artiade exhibition in Spain in November, he said Saturday, highlighting three of his performance acts that made him eligible to participate in the event that is known as the only Olympics for Art.
"I was informed that three of my video art pieces have been accepted, and I will be participating through an official invitation,” Nabaz told Rudaw, adding that his ultimate goal is to “present contemporary Kurdish art on a global stage.”
Founded in 1996, it runs parallel to the spirit of the Olympic games but focuses entirely on visual arts. Its past editions have aligned with major global hubs like Atlanta, Athens, and New York. The 4th International Artiade is scheduled to take place in Valencia, Spain.
One of the three selected works is titled The Melody of Death. Produced in 2018, the video art features Nabaz wearing a military uniform and black sunglasses while using a violin bow to play an AK-47 assault rifle, blending a haunting, melancholic melody with the sound of distant screams.
“Here, sound, as both an audible space and an invisible element, plays a central role in communicating the visible act of combat and the inaudible screams of the victims,” he said, describing the video.
The second artwork is titled Untitled, which was produced in 2021. It tells the story of Du'a Khalil Aswad, a young Yazidi girl who was stoned to death by members of her community in 2007 for allegedly being in a relationship with a Muslim man - a relationship forbidden by conservative communal traditions.
In the video, several pomegranates, each bearing a girl's name, are laid across a pristine white floor. As stones rain down and smash them, their deep red seeds scatter across the surface. The first pomegranate to be crushed is inscribed with the name Du’a.
“In my point of view, the act of carrying seeds in a pomegranate is a profound metaphor to express the state of femininity,” Nabaz said, noting that “the process paradoxically continues in silence, mirroring the silence we have chosen about the murder of women.”
Nabaz’s third piece is titled The Sacrifice. Produced in 2018, the video offers a critique of the traditional ritual of slaughtering livestock during Eid al-Adha. In the performance, key concepts and terms are written across the artist's body like tattoos. He then pours vibrant red paint over himself to symbolize blood, which gradually washes the inscribed terms away.
“Here, this concept has evolved into a darker turn, transformed into a bloody message that contradicts its original goal of liberating the human spirit. Instead, It reflects and perpetuates the dreadful instinct of murder and crime in the guise of religion,” he said.
Ahmed Nabaz was born in Erbil in 1986 and holds a Bachelor's degree in Fine Arts. He is a contemporary artist and art curator working across various media, including painting, installation, performance, video, photography, and digital art. His artistic practice explores themes of violence, war, and the complexities of the human condition.
He has participated in numerous international and local exhibitions. In 2015, he gained international recognition for his digital artwork titled "The Destroyers," which attracted significant attention across various media platforms.
Bilind T. Abdullah contributed to this report from Erbil, Kurdistan Region.
