-Kurdshop
On Saturday, October 14, Mam and Zeen Cultural Center in Erbil opened an exhibition in the Media Gallery entitled "Dim Dim Castle" by Iraj Qaderi Azar, also known as Zhilamo, a painter from Mahabad, East part of Kurdistan. It continued until Wednesday, October 18.
In this regard, Yaran Hiwa, Director General of Mam and Zeen Cultural Center, told Kurdshop: “The exhibition focuses on three subjects: Kurdish history, Kurdish literature, and Kurdish culture. One of the most prominent paintings focused on history is the Dim Dim Castle. The painting of Dim Dim Castle is painted on a large size and contains many details of both sides; Kurds include several different tribes and an emir defending the castle and the other side consists of the Qajar state and other opposing forces.”
"This exhibition wants to show Kurdish history, literature, and culture in a different way and from a different perspective to the Kurdish people and nation," Yaran Hiwa said.
He told Kurdshop about the purpose of the exhibition, “We organize the Mam and Zeen Festival annually and we also organize an artistic activity within the framework of the festival to connect literature and art and reflect the works of artists from all four parts of Kurdistan in this festival. This year, Mam and Zeen chose Iraj Qaderi Azeri because this is the first time that the Kurdish artist has opened an exhibition in the Kurdistan Region during his career."
Bukhari Wishyar, one of the supervisors of the Mam and Zeen Cultural Center, told Kurdshop about the exhibition: “Fortunately, the Dim Dim exhibition was very warmly welcomed. However, this is one of the rare exhibitions held for artists from outside the Kurdistan Region. The exhibition was opened within the framework of the fourth Mam and Zeen Festival and the last day was on Wednesday, October 18. Fortunately, the number of visitors was so large that many requested the exhibition to be extended. Government officials, students, artists, writers, and ordinary people visited this exhibition and received much praise. It is worth mentioning that this exhibition had a lot of response inside and outside the Kurdistan Region and was well covered by the media.”
Bukhari Wishyar, about the impact of such exhibitions on Kurdish society, said, “The impact of such exhibitions on Kurdish society is that they make us look at the painting art and look at ourselves with different eyes. It also shows we can tell the world our history and we can convey our message through art because the language of art is that everyone in the world can understand. This itself has a positive impact on the cultural level of society; for example, it affects us to know our history and not to forget it."
Mam and Zeen Cultural Center plans to open such exhibitions for artists from all four parts of Kurdistan in the future. Mam and Zeen aims to be a platform to be the voice of Kurdish artists through their art and make the Kurdistan Region a place to share the message of Kurdish artists and thus serve the Kurds and Kurdistan.
A brief biography of Iraj Qaderi Azar
Iraj Qaderi Azar (known as Zhilamo) was born on the first day of spring 1968 in his grandfather's house in Mahabad. He moved away from his hometown as a child because of his father's work. He lived in Maragha, Sna, and Tabriz during childhood and adolescence. He had been interested in painting since childhood, but his family did not let him study art. He had to complete his higher education in engineering and continued his engineering work for many years in Esfahan and later in southern Iran which is the Natural Gas Field of Southern Pars. But after 28 years of work, at fifty, he gave up engineering, started painting, and pursued his dreams.
He held his first solo exhibition in 2019 in Mahabad, then in 2021 and 2022 he participated in two exhibitions in Italy (Venice and Verona), and 2022, he participated in a joint exhibition in Germany (Munich).
