Yemeni artist <PERSON>: ‘War imposed itself, but art will remain’ · Global Voices
Acrylic on Canvas. Used with the artist's permission.
After six years of armed conflict, Yemen is the site of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. The civil war and the Saudi-led military campaign, sponsored by the UK and the US, have displaced over 4 million people, and more than 20 million Yemenis are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance. Central governance has been eroded almost to nothing, and the country is deeply fragmented.
Yet, artists in Yemen today can still see things in colour. Renowned artist <PERSON>, who lives in Sana’a with his family, paints from his childhood memory vibrant scenes of a Yemeni daily life that preceded the ongoing war.
<PERSON>, 56, is a founding member of Yemen’s first fine arts association, established in 1986. Today, he is considered one of the most significant figures on Yemen’s fine arts scene, having exhibited in over 80 countries. His paintings have sold around the world, including at Sotheby’s auction house. Alongside his successful career as an artist, he has held official positions, including that of advisor to the Yemeni Minister of Culture.
<PERSON>'s paintings illustrate simple, everyday urban scenes, rural landscapes, and female subjects in vibrant colours. He often adopts a bird’s-eye-view to observe intimate and seemingly mundane scenes in public and private spaces. He doesn't give his works titles, and his subjects rarely look him in the eye.
<PERSON> spoke with <PERSON> by email about his childhood in Taiz, studies in Moscow and on painting war and peace.
<PERSON>: Tell me a bit about yourself. How was your childhood growing up in Taiz?
<PERSON>: I first became aware of the world in the green meadows, running, climbing trees and playing games with my friends. The games changed by season and when the fruits ripened, we infiltrated the orchards and stole them despite the dangers of being caught by the guards… As for school, I hated it to the extent that I was always met with some sort of punishment. Instead of paying attention and concentrating, I was obsessed with drawing in school notebooks. I enrolled to study with <PERSON> and from that moment the real change that occurred in my life began.
Untitled. 216
Used with the artist's permission
CG: What was your experience being mentored by pioneering artist <PERSON>?
HA: My acquaintance with <PERSON> had a great impact that changed the course of my life. Under him, I read books of philosophy, myths and the history of art. I developed a clearer idea about art, and the constant conversation with <PERSON> gave me great confidence in defining my goals. Myself and the other students exhibited our paintings in exhibitions held annually by the teacher <PERSON>, so it changed the course of my life.
CG: After high school, you also briefly entered military service.
<PERSON>: Straight after high school, I entered the world of compulsory conscription in the army. This is a mythical world, another world of crushing humiliation and backwardness… It is necessary to turn into a real monster because those around you are a group of humans wearing masks of monsters.
CG: How long did you spend in the army?
<PERSON>: The army is a compulsory service after high school and every student is required to serve for a year and then go to university. It seemed to me that I was the worst soldier and I hated the military in general. During this period, I drew paintings and participated in exhibitions, and my relationship with <PERSON> continued until I completed military service with difficulty and went to study art in Moscow.
Acrylic 100 X 140 cm. Used with the artist's permission
CG: You were one of a large group of Yemeni artists who studied fine arts in Moscow in the late 1970s. How did this experience influence you?
<PERSON>: In Moscow, I saw all my dreams come true before my eyes and between my hands, culture, arts, theatres, galleries, museums, all the pleasures of the world. The seven years I spent in Moscow passed quickly. During this time, I lived through all the changes, got married and our child was born in Moscow. Moscow is unforgettable. I still have dreams of studying, of my friends, and of all the places with which I have had a cultural, visual, spatial and temporal relationship in that wonderful, frightening city. I studied for seven years in Surikov Institute where I gained academic knowledge and a formal artistic training. I was lucky to study drawing and painting under Russia n Professor <PERSON> so I was able to study colour for two years before moving to the mural department that exposed me to a wide horizon of knowledge, from the Renaissance to Islamic miniatures. 216