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Biography

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Walid Siti was born in 1954, in the city of Duhok, in Iraqi-Kurdistan. After graduating in 1976 from the Institute of Fine arts in Baghdad, Siti left Iraq to continue his arts education in Ljubljana, Slovenia before seeking political asylum in 1984 in the United Kingdom where he lives and works.

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Formerly trained in printmaking, Siti works extensively in a variety of mediums including video, installation, 3D works, work on paper and painting. His works traverse a complex terrain of memory and loss, while at the same time offering an acute insight into a world, which for him has been a place of constant change. The narrative of Siti’s experience, of a life lived far from but still deeply emotionally connected to the place of one’s birth, is one he shares with many exiles; he takes inspiration from the cultural heritage of his native land that is crisscrossed with militarized borders and waves of migration. The artist’s work considers the tensions between collective identity, interdependence and the constraints placed on the individual by themes of heritage, tradition, homes, borders, mobility and migration.

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Siti’s work has been exhibited internationally, at Martin Gropius Bau, Berlin, at the Imperial war Museum, London, at Institut des Cultures d’Islam, Paris, at the Sharjah Biennial with prize award, and at the Venice Biennale, 2009, 2011,2015. Yinchuan Contemporary Art Museum, China(MOCA), “Systems and Patterns”, International Centre of Graphics, Ljubljana, Slovenia, Bruges Triennial, Belgium.

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His work is in notable international collections such as The Metropolitan Museum, New York; The British Museum, London; The Imperial War Museum, London; The Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE; The National Gallery of Amman, Jordan; The World Bank, Washington, D.C.; Victoria & Albert Museum, London; The Iraq Memory Foundation, Art for American Embassy program, USA; Museum of contemporary Art, Krakow and the Barjeel Art Foundation, UAE and Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art.

Solo Exhibitions
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  • 2023  Fragile Construct “ Meem Gallery, Dubai.

  • 2021  Public Art Project, Duhok Gallery, Kurdistan-Iraq

  • 2021  The Interweaving Flow, as part of Windows In commissions by Studio 3 Arts space, London 

  • 2021  Right to Climb, a public art installation at Tobacco Factory in Bristol, UK

  • 2021 Right to Climb, a public art installation at Tobacco Factory in Bristol

  • ​2020 Right to Climb, a public installation as part of the London Festival of Architecture's 2020 programme

  • 2017  The Black Tower, Zilberman Gallery, Berlin

  • 2015  New Babylon, Zilberman Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey

  • 2014  Re-Construction, Edge of Arabia, London, UK

  • 2014  Parallel Realms, Taymour Grahne Gallery, New York, USA

  • 2013  “Crossing” Amad Art Gallery, Diyarbakır, Turkey

  • 2011  Rose Issa Projects, London, UK

  • 2011  Erbil-Dubai: Chasing Utopia, XVA Gallery, Dubai, UAE

  • 2011  Merg Gallery, Erbil, Kurdistan-Iraq

  • 2010  Sardem Gallery, Sulaymaniyah, Kurdistan-Iraq

  • 2010  Dohuk Gallery, Dohuk, Kurdistan-Iraq

  • 2009  XVA Gallery, Dubai, UAE

  • 2008  Leighton House Museum, London, UK

  • 2004  Salman’s Gallery, Dohuk, Kurdistan-Iraq

  • 2002  Arcola Gallery, London, UK

  • 2001  Oriel Canfas, Cardiff, UK

  • 1998  Diorama Gallery, London, UK

  • 1996  Leighton House Museum, London, UK

  • 1992  Midland Arts Centre, Birmingham, UK

  • 1991  Galeria Insula, Ljubljana, Slovenia

  • 1988  Recent Works on Paper, Matilda Gallery, Sheffield, UK

  • 1984  Labirint Gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia

  • 1983  Galerija Ulrich, Zagreb, Croatia

  • 2011  Rose Issa Projects, London, UK

  • 2011  Erbil-Dubai: Chasing Utopia, XVA Gallery, Dubai, UAE

  • 2011  Merg Gallery, Erbil, Kurdistan-Iraq

  • 2010  Sardem Gallery, Sulaymaniyah, Kurdistan-Iraq

  • 2010  Dohuk Gallery, Dohuk, Kurdistan-Iraq

  • 2009  XVA Gallery, Dubai, UAE

  • 2008  Leighton House Museum, London, UK

  • 2004  Salman’s Gallery, Dohuk, Kurdistan-Iraq

  • 2002  Arcola Gallery, London, UK

  • 2001  Oriel Canfas, Cardiff, UK

  • 1998  Diorama Gallery, London, UK

  • 1996  Leighton House Museum, London, UK

  • 1992  Midland Arts Centre, Birmingham, UK

  • 1991  Galeria Insula, Ljubljana, Slovenia

  • 1988  Recent Works on Paper, Matilda Gallery, Sheffield, UK

  • 1984  Labirint Gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia

  • 1983  Galerija Ulrich, Zagreb, Croatia

 

Selected Group Exhibitions
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  • 2023  ” Retracing Connections” group exhibition, Depo Istanbul

  • 2023  ‘Through The Lenses’  ISAW, the American University, NY

  • 2023  “Between Land and Water” Erbil Citadel Art Centre, Erbil, Kurdistan-Iraq 

  • 2023  ‘Things Told by Us’ Forum De L’Hotel de Ville, Lausanne, Switzerland

  • 2023  The Future of Traditions,  Brunei Gallery, SOAS, London

  • 2023   Cure 3, Bonhams, London

  • 2022  ‘Now’ Themes and Expressions, Esta Gallery , Sulaymaniyah, Kurdistan-Iraq 

  • 2022  Glad We Made It On Time, Salt Istanbul

  • 2022  May my flames pave your way, Gdansk, Poland

  • 2022  Heterotopia, Cihan Gallery, Erbil, Kurdistan-Iraq 

  • 2022  Frameless Drawing exhibition, Esta Gallery, Sulaymaniyah, KRG

  • 2022 Preforming Time,  4th International Video Art Network, Los Angele, USA

  • 2021  Museum at Large, Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery, Exeter, UK

  • 2021  The Immunity, Galerie der Kunstler, Munich, Germany

  • 2021 Frameless Drawing Exhibition, Duhok, Iraq 

  • 2021 Reflections contemporary art of the Middle East and North Africa, The British Museum

  • 2021 'Castles in Reality, History and Myth' online exhibition curated by Francesca Vanke, Senior Curator, Norwich Museums for Art UK

  • 2020 ZEBRA Poetry Film Festival, Kino in der KulturBrauerei in Berlin, Germany

  • 2020 Scorched Earth charity exhibition organised by the Migrate Art, Cork Street Galleries London

  • 2020 Time Complex, Yerevan Biennial, Digital Exhibition

  • 2020 MAY FLAMES PAVE WAY FOR YOU at Arsenal Gallery, Poland

  • 2020 When the Globe is Home at Gallery delle Prigioni in Treviso, Italy

  • 2020 21st Biennial of Art of Santa Cruz, Bolivia

  • 2020 Rencontres International Paris/Berlin 

  • 2020 When Globe Means Home: This Is Our Story, Gallerie delle Progioni, Treviso, Italy

  • 2019 Refuge and Renewal: Migration and British Art, Royal West Academy Gallery, Bristol, UK

  • 2019 Speaking Across Mountains: The Middle East Institute, Washington D.C., USA.

  • 2019 Impossible to Find, Latitude Gallery Art Space, Yerevan, Armenia

  • 2019 Maps of Control, Factory Gallery, Suliymania, Kurdistan-Iraq

  • 2019 History Is Not Here: Art and the Arab Imaginary, Minnesota Museum of American Art, Saint Paul, USA

  • 2019 1st. Public Art Duhok 2019, Duhok, Kurdistan-Iraq

  • 2019 Hammams’ Maqam, 3rd Kurdistan Sound Art Exhibition, Duhok, Kurdistan-Iraq

  • 2018 Pay Attention Please!, Public Art Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands

  • 2018 The Arrangements of the Soul in the Universe, Langen Foundation, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

  • 2018 Infinite Present: Revelations from Islamic Design in Contemporary Art, Cambridge Arts, Cambridge, USA

  • 2018 Age of Terror: Art since 9/11, The Imperial War Museum, London, UK

  • 2018 International Contemporary Art Exhibition, Yerevan, Armenia

  • 2018 Baghdad Mon Amour, Institute of Cultures of Islam (ICI) Paris, France

  • 2017 Tamawuj, the 13th Sharjah Biennale, Sharjah, UAE

  • 2017 House of Wisdom, Framer Framed, Amsterdam, Netherlands

  • 2016 Visions of War Above and Below, The Imperial War Museum, London, UK

  • 2016 Ultra Habitat, Zilberman Gallery, Berlin, Germany

  • 2016 Restrictions of the Earth, Karşı Sanat Çalışmaları, Istanbul, Turkey

  • 2016 Restrictions of the Earth, Hinterland Gallery, Vienna, Austria.

  • 2015 Arab Territories, Capital of Arab Culture 2015, Constantine, Algeria

  • 2015 Between East and West, Yinchuan Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Yinchuan, China

  • 2015 The Air of Earth, ArtBat Festival, Almaty, Kazakhstan

  • 2015 The Great Game, Pavilion of Iran, 56th Venice Biennial, Venice, Italy

  • 2015 Bruges Triennial, Belgium

  • 2014 The Seven Valleys, Rose Issa Projects, London, UK

  • 2013 In Dialogue, The Waterline Gallery, Manama, Bahrain

  • 2013 Iran Modern, Asia Society, New York, USA

  • 2013 Hajj: Journey to Mecca, Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, Qatar

  • 2012 Systems and Patterns, International Centre of Graphics, Ljubljana, Slovenia

  • 2012 Hajj: Journey to the Heart of Islam, British Museum, London, UK

  • 2012 Silent Revolution: Tallinn Drawing Triennial, Tallinn Art Hall, Tallinn, Estonia

  • 2012 Echoes from Periphery, Palazzo Granafei Nervegna, Brindisi, Italy

  • 2011 Pavilion of Iraq, 54th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy

  • 2011 Take Care of Yourself, Amed Art Gallery, Diyarbakır, Turkey

  • 2009 Taswir: Pictorial Mappings of Modernity and Islam, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Germany

  • 2009 PlanetK, Kurdish Collateral Event, 53rd Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy

  • 2009 Iraq’s Past Speaks to the Present, British Museum, London, UK

  • 2009 Modernism and Iraq, Miriam & Ira Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University, New York, USA

  • 2008 Permanent Collection, Imperial War Museum, London, UK

  • 2008 Occupied Space 08, Art for Palestine, Qattan Foundation, London, UK

  • 2008 18th Istanbul International Art Fair, Istanbul, Turkey

  • 2008 Space Now, The Triangle, London, UK

  • 2006 Word into Art, The British Museum, London, UK

  • 2004 Art Futures, Contemporary Arts Society, London, UK

  • 2004 Commemorating Serwat Anawr, The Museum Hall, Sulaymaniyah, Iraq

  • 2003 Still Packing Suitcases, Limonaia di Villa Strozzi, Florance, Italy

  • 2003 Outlook, The National Museum in Krakow, Poland

  • 2002 Kurdish Contemporary Art, The Historical Museum of The City of Vienna, Austria

  • 2002 10th Asian Art Biennale, Dhaka, Bangladesh

  • 2001 5th Sharjah International Art Biennale, Sharjah, UAE

  • 2001 International Art Biennale Dialogue, St. Petersburg, Russia

  • 2000 Towards the Millennium, ArtSway gallery, Hampshire, UK

  • 2000 Galerie De Boog, Ijsselstein, Netherlands

  • 2000 Thing, The Garrett Centre, London, UK

  • 1999 The 9th International Biennale of Prints and Drawings, Taiwan, China

  • 1999 XIV Premio Internazional Biella Per L’incisione, Biella, Italy

  • 1999 Towards the Millennium, Artsway, Hampshire, UK

  • 1999 Pilonava Galeria, Ajdovščina, Slovenia

  • 1998 Cheltenham Open Drawing ’98 touring to Hall and Berlin, Germany

  • 1997 The 8th International Biennale of Prints and Drawings, Taiwan, China

  • 1996 10th International Exhibition of Graphic Art, Frechen, Germany

  • 1996 Contemporary Art Collection, Imperial War Museum, London, UK

  • 1996 Under Different Skies, Oksenhallen, Copenhagen, Denmark

  • 1995 Graphic Constellation’95, Graz, Austria

  • 1994 Print Triennale’94, Consumenta 95, Nuremberg, Germany

  • 1994 International Print Triennale, Kraców, Poland

  • 1994 The Art Gallery Scarborough, UK

  • 1993 The First International Print Biennale, Maastricht, Netherlands

  • 1992 Strains of War, Greenwich Citizen Gallery, London, UK

  • 1992 Art for Fairer World, Kelvingrove Museum & Art Gallery, Glasgow, UK

  • 1991 Let Canvas Come to Life with Dark Faces, Castle Museum, Nottingham, UK

  • 1991 Picture Show, South Bank Centre, London, UK

  • 1991 The Bluecoat, Liverpool, UK

  • 1991 Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Aberystwyth, UK

  • 1990 Let Canvas Come to Life with Dark Faces, Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, Coventry, UK

  • 1987 Print with a Point, Hard Time Gallery, Bristol, UK

  • 1986 Three Iraqi Artists, Kufa Gallery, London, UK

  • 1983 15th International Graphics Biennale, Ljubljana, Slovenia

  • 1981 14th International Graphics Biennale, Ljubljana, Slovenia

  • 1981 Iraqi Art in Exile, Plazzo di Parte Guelfa, Florence. Italy

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Public Collections
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  • The Metropolitan Museum, New York

  • Museum of Contemporary Art, Kraków, Poland 

  • Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah 

  • The British Museum, London 

  • Jameel Art Collection, UAE 

  • The Imperial War Museum, London 

  • The National Gallery of Amman, Jordan 

  • The World Bank, Washington, DC

  •  Victoria & Albert Museum, London 

  • The Iraq Memory Foundation

  •  Art for American Embassy program, USA

  • Barjeel Art Foundation, UAE

  • Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art

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