Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Baghdad gallery owner clings to redemptive virtues of art - International Herald Tribune
Amid the violence, the crumbling economy and rising religious and political intolerance, Hasan Nassar can see a peaceful, democratic Iraq close at hand, one in which ideas, not bullets, are paramount.
The incubator for his vision is his small art gallery in northern Baghdad, which he opened in early 2006 even as most others were shutting down. He has kept it alive with a relentless rotation of exhibits, lectures, poetry readings and film screenings.
There is urgency to this schedule. Nassar believes that culture can provide a pathway out of the hate and fear overwhelming Iraq, and he is trying to marshal like-minded Iraqis to join his movement.
...
Amjad Altayyar, a painter, lamented that the dominant parties and people in Iraqi society were communicating in "the language of power and car bombs."
"In the small society of this cafe," he continued, "you can find artists and educated people who belong to different cultures, different nationalities. But the language among them is this notion of acceptance." ...
Amid the violence, the crumbling economy and rising religious and political intolerance, Hasan Nassar can see a peaceful, democratic Iraq close at hand, one in which ideas, not bullets, are paramount.
The incubator for his vision is his small art gallery in northern Baghdad, which he opened in early 2006 even as most others were shutting down. He has kept it alive with a relentless rotation of exhibits, lectures, poetry readings and film screenings.
There is urgency to this schedule. Nassar believes that culture can provide a pathway out of the hate and fear overwhelming Iraq, and he is trying to marshal like-minded Iraqis to join his movement.
...
Amjad Altayyar, a painter, lamented that the dominant parties and people in Iraqi society were communicating in "the language of power and car bombs."
"In the small society of this cafe," he continued, "you can find artists and educated people who belong to different cultures, different nationalities. But the language among them is this notion of acceptance." ...
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