Art tour highlights creativity in the heart of Iraq

A buzz is building in the Bab al-Sharji neighbourhood in central Baghdad where preparations for an annual contemporary arts festival are underway. The city has long been considered one of the most dangerous in the world but artists in the Tarkib collective want to send a different message – that the capital is alive with creativity and culture. 

The event, which began when the collective was founded in 2015, comprises the exhibiting of work in public spaces and a narrative tour of the city called Baghdad Walk. Next month’s four-day Tarkib contemporary arts festival is titled Hello Future! 

Members of Tarkib come from a variety of fields including the visual arts, performing arts, music, literature, film, interior design, architecture, graphic design, and photography. A different location is chosen every year for Baghdad Walk, to tell stories of the city from the artists’ perspective. 

For their 10th anniversary, Tarkib are revisiting the area where they staged their first festival, as well as showing exhibits at Baghdad’s Museum of Modern Art, which opened in 1962 and was a symbol of the emergent modern Iraqi art at that time.