Mohammed Sami 'On Air' Print Available

Artist: Mohammed Sami
Title: On Air
Medium: Hand Embellished Giclee Print
Size: 50 x 61 cm
Edition: 31
Price: £1,650

  

Mohammed Sami, born in Baghdad in 1984, is a highly regarded contemporary painter known for his evocative, large-scale works that explore memory and the lasting impact of war and displacement. His artistic journey began with intensive classical training at the Institute of Fine Arts in Baghdad, a period that included painting propaganda murals for Saddam Hussein's regime. Following the Iraq War, he worked briefly for the Iraqi Ministry of Culture before seeking asylum in Sweden in 2007 and eventually settling in London, where he earned an MFA from Goldsmiths, University of London, in 2018.

Sami's distinctive style is characterized by the absence of human figures, instead using everyday objects, domestic interiors, and landscapes to allude to human presence and unsettling narratives. He describes his process as a "belated response to memory," employing metaphor and ambiguity, often drawing inspiration from Arabic literary devices like taoria (puns or double meanings) to free his work from a one-way, didactic narrative. In his paintings, a rolled-up carpet might resemble a shrouded body, or the shadow of a houseplant might take on a menacing, spidery form, infusing ordinary scenes with an uncanny strangeness and a sense of latent violence.

Rather than directly depicting graphic conflict, Sami's semi-abstract compositions force viewers to confront the "ghosts of the past" through suggestion and atmosphere. His work has been featured in major exhibitions at institutions such as the Hayward Gallery in London, the Carnegie International in Pittsburgh, and the Camden Art Centre. He was nominated for the prestigious 2025 Turner Prize for his solo exhibition After the Storm at Blenheim Palace, which challenged traditional narratives of military glory through his quietly haunting artistic vision. His paintings are held in the permanent collections of major museums worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Tate in London.