BAGHDAD – Iraqi artist Wijdan al-Majed is transforming Baghdad’s concrete jungle into a colour-filled city with murals depicting well-known figures from the country and abroad.
Perched on a scaffold at a busy intersection, the 49-year-old artist and instructor at the Baghdad College of Fine Arts is adding final touches to a mural dedicated to celebrated Iraqi poet Muzzafar al-Nawab.
Peasant women in traditional dress adorn the background of the mural, commissioned by Baghdad mayor Alaa Maan.
He launched the initiative nine months ago in a bid to “bring beauty to the city and move art to the streets to get rid of the grey and dusty colours” that hang over Baghdad.
Majed, an artist more accustomed to exhibiting her work in the cosy and reflective settings of galleries, at first had helpers to create the street art.
“Sometimes I work late into the night,” said Majed, wearing jeans and shoes splattered with paint.
“The street is scary at night, and it’s not easy for a woman to be out so late,” she said.
Motorists and passers-by often slow down or stop to watch the woman on her scaffold, paintbrush in hand and hard at work.
Many Iraqis are happily surprised by the transformation of their capital.
“This is the most beautiful Muzaffar,” a motorist shouted as he drove past Majed while she touched up the poet’s mural.
Nicknamed the “revolutionary poet”, Muzaffar al-Nawab holds a special place in the hearts of many Iraqis.
At least 16 murals have been painted across Baghdad, with one devoted to Jawad Salim, considered the father of Iraqi modern art and a celebrated sculptor, and another to the late, world-famous Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid.
German sociologist Max Weber and Catholic saint Mother Teresa are among the foreigners celebrated on Baghdad’s new murals.
Maan, the mayor and an architect by profession, chooses the subjects which Majed paints in vivid colours — a jarring contrast with the rest of the city.
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