Behzad Qaderi
On Saturday, June 22, Kawnara Cafe and Gallery in Erbil, the Capital of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) opened an exhibition called Jilamo, of works by Mashallah Mohammadi, known as Arez, a painter from Sna (Sanandaj), East Kurdistan. It will be held till Friday, June 28.
The exhibition features several new paintings by Mashallah Mohammadi, as well as a few minutes of animation called "Homo Fuj".
In general, the paintings in this exhibition deal with Kurdish people and rural life. Mashallah Mohammadi told Kurdshop: “In general, artworks are part of the lives of artists. From my perspective not as a photographer or an architect, my works show the life in Kurdistan and Kurdish life. I see the houses as human characters; they are generally in a cold climate and may speak of a winter while inside houses are warm and look like fire. This talks about the inner side of the Kurdish people. In general, I have tried to make this my view of the issue.”
Another feature of this exhibition is the reflection of Kurdish women in the paintings. “I have painted more than 200 paintings of women in the past 35 years, talking about various aspects of Kurdish women's lives and often talking about their loneliness and sufferings. This does not mean there are no people with her, but it means she is not understood by those closest to her, such as sons, husbands, brothers, and fathers," he said.
Mashallah Mohammadi's paintings pay great attention to rural life. “I have been interested in villages since childhood and have visited our village whenever I can. I have enjoyed rural life very much. Even the architectural styles of the villages were attractive to me because they show the Kurdish spirit, so these images have always been in my mind and influenced me.”
When asked how he decided to open this exhibition in Erbil and how many people visited him, he said: “When an artist works, he likes to exhibit his works widely so that they can be seen. I held an exhibition in Sulaimani ten months ago and now in Erbil. Of course, I held an exhibition in South Kurdistan 10 years ago too, and I wanted to have an exhibition here again to compare the results. I can say that the quality of the exhibition and the number of visitors has increased and I like it, but it still does not live up to expectations. One of the things that makes any work progress is criticism, but I have not seen any critics here so far, especially the media in South Kurdistan have done little in this regard.”
A brief biography and artistic works of artist Mashallah Mohammadi
Mashallah Mohammadi was born in 1969 in the Jawrawa neighborhood of Sna, East Kurdistan. He has been interested in painting since childhood, so he attended the painting classes of Hadi Ziaeddini at the age of 11 and graduated in Painting from Tehran University in 1987. He has participated in 43 public exhibitions, 163 international festivals, and opened 38 private exhibitions. This exhibition in Erbil is his fifth in South Kurdistan. Mashallah Mohammadi has received 17 international and 34 domestic awards.
In addition to painting, he has been making animation since 2003 and has made 10 short animated films. He has also created the first 459-minute Kurdish animated series called Saro and is currently working on an animation project about the life of the great Kurdish artist Sayid Ali Asghari Kurdistani.
