Rushdi Anwar, When you pray for black gold, you must deal with the burning smoke too, 2023, embroidery on woven prayer rug, digital prints on paper. Installation view.
“In the smaller of the two galleries, Anwar installed When you pray for black gold, you must deal with the burning smoke too (all works cited, 2023), a cream-colored prayer rug embroidered with black Kurdish traditional patterns, spread out on a low pedestal and aligned toward Mecca. Over its coarse surface is printed a map that allocates territories to different Middle Eastern ethnic groups, including the Kurds. However, this prayer for sovereignty was unanswered, as Turkey pushed for the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne that effectively turned Kurdistan into terra nullius and scattered its people as minorities in Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey.”
Artwork photo provided by The Jim Thompson Art Center.
Read the full review at Artforum.
