Iraq's Emerging Artists

Last semester I had a class with concept art student Walaa Haddad, who is the first Iraqi I have ever met. (And a very talented painter, too.) I introduced him to my journalist friend Kristin, and she interviewed him for an article titled "Iraq's Emerging Artists."

He describes the duality of feeling a love for his homeland and also an urge to pursue art. Although Walaa now lives in San Francisco, he described the homesickness he felt during a recent trip back home: “When I went back to Iraq, I used to talk to those walls (of his family's home), and they reminded me of my childhood, and even they used to beg me just to remember the old days, and not to leave." But unfortunately,  he feels that there "is no place" for an artist like him in his country.

It's a great article, I highly recommend it.