Dreams of Floods and Strife

Berlin-based Iraqi artist Ali Yass explores memories of war and natural disasters through his art.

- MICHELE KOH MOROLLO

As part of the Singapore Biennale, Berlin-based Iraqi painter and filmmaker Ali Yass’ Die Flut (The Flood), is on display at the Singapore Art Museum. Created with Chinese ink and acrylic on Misumi Kozo paper, it is a series of 20 paintings conceived after Yass saw images of massive floods in Rheinland-Pfalz and Nordrhein-Westfalen during his residency at an art gallery in Essen in late 2021.

While in residency, he had heard the locals talking about how the water had risen to knee-level after the flood. After hearing the phrase “water rising to knee-level”, Yass was reminded of the medieval tale about the “rivers of blood” in Jerusalem after the Christian crusaders conquered the Muslim Fatimid Caliphate and won the city in 1099. In legend, upon hearing rumours that the bloodshed was so extreme that it reached knee height, both the Muslims and the crusaders asked if the blood reached their knees while they were standing or riding on their horses. A deeper “river of blood” would signify greater and more gruesome bloodshed.

Ala Younis, artist and Co-Artistic Director of Singapore Biennale 2022’s says, “This question of estimation and calculation, of probing memories of war, upon thinking of nature, or any violence, and of a human body and how it finds its resemblance to far more complex settings and representations, are the foundations of Ali Yass’s work. By asking these questions, Yass was able to see the floods through the lens of his personal experience of displacement.”

この記事は The PEAK Singapore の March 2023 版に掲載されています。

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この記事は The PEAK Singapore の March 2023 版に掲載されています。

7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。

Start your free trial

すでに購読者です? サインイン