Mohammed Al Shammarey
PAPER BOATS
12 February to 10 March 2013
Mohammed Shammarey launches his latest exhibition ‘Paper Boats’ at Jacaranda Images with a multifaceted exhibition of prints, book art and video installation as part of the Institut Francais ‘Image Festival #3’.
The reference to the paper boats extends beyond childhood games and dreams to the prevalent issue of immigration where boats were the earliest mode of transport for early immigrants from Europe and Africa to the USA either by choice or forced. The exhibition is somewhat biographical as Shammarey has himself immigrated to the USA to flee the ‘bleeding homeland’ of Iraq, a decision which leaves a ‘hollow feeling of deep uprooting’.
This work is more than his own story though and alludes to the business of immigration involving those desperately escaping persecution and who travel in barely seaworthy vessels, often paying dearly for the risks associated with such a journey or those who profit from the immigration business of refugees, even extending to mail order brides.
Shammarey has been known to hide behind satirical statements like ‘Artwork is some sort of game’ and in this exhibition he takes the concept of the game of a flimsy paper boat, destined for one trip down a stream, and reveals a complex array of ideas with far reaching consequences for those who play it.
Mohammed Al Shammarey
The Iraqi Artist Mohammed Al Shammarey, was born in Baghdad in 1962. He has exhibited his work widely in galleries and museums throughout the Middle East, Europe and USA and has participated in group shows at the British Museum, Columbia University and the Station Museum of Contemporary Art in Houston, Texas.
His latest works titled “Rain Song” were exhibited in the Museum of Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, followed by “Word, Object, Motion” exhibition at the Anya Tish Gallery in Houston, Texas.
