Athier Mousawi (Iraq)

Athier Mousawi is a British Iraqi visual artist whose work over recent years has centered on posing unanswerable questions against undefined answers and forming a visual narrative between the two. Since graduating from Central St. Martins, London in 2007, the subject of much of his work has been Iraq and his diasporic relationship to his intrinsic yet foreign homeland, as well as the idea of nostalgic referencing to how we idolise and remember our past, present and future

Of the main constructs used within Athier's painting the initial response is that of scale and colour which guide the viewer through his compositions. The various ways of absorbing with his works are dependent on viewer positioning and distance from the canvases and ergonomic interaction. Symbolism in these large scale paintings are weaved through layers of organic figurative and geometric Islamic forms. Large shapes frame moments of detail, acting like windows into another, very personal place, which the viewer is invited into. Although predominantly a painter, s more graphic drawing style uses similar devices of surrounding intense narrative with rigid forms.

Separate to his artistic practice, Athier has worked extensively as an educator within the UK and on the field. For three consecutive years from 2007 Athier worked as British Museum arab artist in residence working in schools throughout the UK. He was selected as the Chasing Mirrors artist in residence by The National Portrait Gallery for 2011, leading workshops in community centres through London. As well as a major collaborative exhibition, Chasing Mirrors was a platform for educational projects with the gallery which ran parallel to the three months of the exhibition. In 2012, Athier worked in a number of refugee camps as a workshop leader in Beirut, Istanbul, Amman and Jarash. Athier lives and works between Paris, London and Istanbul.