Hayv Kahraman

Hayv Kaharaman is an Iraqi artist born in Baghdad in 1981. Growing up during the war, she had a difficult childhood. At the age of 11, she fled with her family to Sweden, where they finally found safety. From the start of her life as a refugee, she faced racism, particularly from some teachers who forced her to give up her beloved music and ballet lessons. At just 12 years old, she developed a passion for figurative art and began taking oil painting lessons, eventually enrolling at the Academy of Art and Design in Florence.

Her works address powerful and contemporary themes: the effects of war on the daily lives of ordinary people, female identity, and the issues plaguing her homeland, Iraq, a country still far from achieving economic stability, peace, and gender equality.

Her art is a vocabulary of narrative and dynamic memory, elements common in diasporic cultures. The essence of her visual language is deeply rooted in her refugee experience, with constant references to traditional Arab art.

The piece Dolma Kick, part of the Iannaccone Collection, connects to ancient Arab and Persian art, featuring repetitive geometric patterns that create an ideal frame for the painting. The two women within the work convey a sense of movement despite their static appearance.