Hayv Kahraman (born 1981) is an Iraqi artist and painter. Her works reflect the controversial issues of gender, honor killings and war, all issues that plague her home country of Iraq. Hayv currently lives and works in Phoenix, AZ, United States. Born in Baghdad, Iraq in 1981, and moved to Sweden at the age of 11. She began oil painting at the age of 12 and later had several successful exhibitions in Sweden.

Ishtar

“Born in a land that is ironically the cradle of civilization and presently the ultimate embodiment of human degradation, Iraq, I have of necessity inherited a host of issues that find expression in my work. Female oppression, honor killings and war continue to claim my attention. Filled with desire, I paint for redemption and salvation, hoping one day humanity will witness a profound change”. 

Melancholic aristocracy

Meat scale

Culmination

Waraq

Al Malwiya (153cm in diameter and 4 meters high) 18,000 individually sewn playing cards that are reproductions of large scale paintings on panel The structural concept of Project Al-Malwiya is derived from the emblematic spiral minaret in Samarra, Iraq that was built during the Abbasid empire and is a source of national pride regardless of sectarian affiliation.

Kurdish women dancing

Chained Women

In Line

Disguised Puppets

Domesticated Marionettes

“The figures in my work reside in a precarious state of terrifying contingency. Things are happening; will happen; have happened; things that will lacerate when spoken about and are considered taboo or too harsh to deal with let alone witness; nonetheless an aura of sublimity is cast upon the figures, enriching them with an ornate divinity achieved by simple yet meticulously calculated brush strokes. This dichotomy or battle of the opposites encompasses the human condition as a whole and exposes our universal values together with our detestable errors.

Shirin

Khosrow

Mining the Illustrative Process for Outré Portrayals of Body Modification

Kahraman’s new series sends a strong visual message on the delicate yet persistent subject of body modification. Kahraman continues to explore the feminine psyche, by bringing attention to the heights women will go to achieve perceived notions of beauty.

Appearance of controlFemale genital mutilation

Mass Assembly (sliding puzzle) 2010

In that series themed “Sacrifice” I chose to portray a story of determined women taking conscious action on their current and future destructive social paradigms; inequality and injustice. The paintings present an analogy of the sacrifices that women make for the sin of being the weaker sex. This is disproportionate to the sacrifices that men make for their sin of power abuse. The lamb is regarded as a pure and innocent animal that in this series draws parallel to the female sex. The white lamb is an ironic visualization of the significant sacrifice (in orthodox Jewish code) for human sin.

Mevlevi Sema

Narcissus

I love my pink comb, 2010

Hayv Kahraman (Jameel Prize 2011)By Victoria and Albert Museum

"Inspired by Neo-Assyrian reliefs of lions and men in perpetual battle, this painting depicts a humiliated lion riddled with arrows, regurgitating folded poker-sized playing cards that are reproductions of large paintings from the Waraq series. This piece is a manifestation of the depression that arise from a tragic loss of solidarity in thought and culture.”

Self portrait

Sound: Azam Ali- Lasse Pour Quoi

Marie Keyrouz - Kondakion melkite

Text and pictures: Internet

Arangement: Sanda Foişoreanu