A sense of sadness and loneliness permeates Mohammed Samiʼs paintings, in which no figures are depicted, and only a hint of someoneʼs presence remains. The taped glass windowpanes suggest that there was some kind of danger was present, while the leaves in the glass, tablecloth, and cactus also suggest that someone had been there until recently. In House of Tears (2020), while an outdoor tree appears to be reflected in the windowpane, or gazing out of the window from the inside, the title suggests that someoneʼs tears have been shed there.

Born in Baghdad, Iraq under Saddam Hussein, Sami studied painting and once worked for the Ministry of Culture. The Iraq that he grew up in was plagued by episodes of endless conflict and violence, such as the Iran-Iraq War, the Gulf War, the Coalition Provisional Authority, and the establishment of the new Iraqi Republic. In 2007, his family moved to Sweden as refugees. In 2015, he studied art in Northern Ireland, and in 2018, he received an MA from Goldsmiths, University of London.

While Samiʼs paintings depict memories and traumas from his homeland of Iraq, where he lived through difficult times, they are not a direct form of iconography, but rather a chain of imagined images within his pictorial space. In Refugee Camp (2021), an illuminated building can be seen in the depths of a dark forest, suggesting how a bright future awaits after emerging from the darkness. Still Alive (2020), meanwhile, makes us wonder who is “still alive,” and where. These paintings imagine invisible presences, resonating with us more deeply than anything that is visible to us in the real world.

Selected Works & Awards

2023

Solo exhibition (upcoming), Camden Art Center, London, UK

2022

The London Open 2022, Whitechapel Gallery, UK

2021

Mixing It Up: Painting Today, Hayward Gallery, London UK

2021

Stilla liv (Still life), Gallery Magnus Karlsson, Gotland, Sweden

2018－2019

The Sea is the Limit, York Art Gallery, UK/Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts, Doha, Qatar

2011

Kulturnatten (The Culture Night of Norrköping City), Norrköping Art Museum, Sweden

Exhibition

• Installation view at Aichi Triennale 2022
• Photo: ToLoLo studio