TEDxBaghdad 2011 - Maysa Ibrahim
The speaker argues that art, particularly Iraqi art, is the essential tool for national rebuilding and connection because it uniquely embodies and communicates shared culture, thereby preventing the nation's spirit from being erased by political or physical devastation. He shows this by citing the profound connection formed by an enthralled Japanese couple watching a piece of Iraqi video art, which bypassed language barriers. Ultimately, the speaker calls for global investment in Iraqi artists to ensure the continuous global visibility of Mesopotamia's enduring culture. ## Speakers & Context - Unnamed speaker, who previously studied art and law. - Describes an encounter at the College of Art Baghdad, noting the existence of 3,000 art students despite perceived lack of employment or audience. - Confesses to a life-changing decision at age 15 regarding career path: art versus another field. - Gives a personal account of his disillusionment with "top down nation building" after serving with the Constitutional Support Unit in Iraq. ## Theses & Positions - Art provides an essential feeling of euphoria, joy, and purpose through the act of creation for a receptive audience. - Nation-building requires more than just laws; the foundation must be the *Iraqi soul*, which is its culture. - Culture is the "bedrock of Iraq" and forms the basis for calling oneself Iraqi. - Visual art is the *ultimate form of communication* because it transcends boundaries, language, and nationality. - Art gives the unheard a voice and opens the artist to empathy. - Culture unifies in a way that very little else does, offering a path to look past painful divisions toward a positive future. - The core message is that "Iraq is not gone"; Mesopotamia is alive in every individual, and artists must hold this flame on the world stage. ## Concepts & Definitions - **Iraqi soul:** Defined as the culture, which is presented as the bedrock of Iraq. - **Culture's role:** It is what makes people call each other Iraqi; speaking of culture elicits a visible positive response. - **Art's function:** It inspires and translates culture into a visible foundation for a country, providing vision, innovation, and forward thinking through communication and unification. - **Top-down nation building:** The process of creating a country structure (like a constitution) from the top down, which the speaker found inadequate if the foundational spirit was broken. - **Mesopotamia:** Identified as the enduring spirit and civilization embodied by the Iraqi people, enduring through historical trauma. ## Mechanisms & Processes - **Personal Path Correction:** Shift from initial inclination (art) to an alternative (law) due to paternal influence (father, a scientist) and the resulting focus on nation-building. - **Conflict Diagnosis:** Realization that the breakdown of a country (Iraq) could not be solved solely by drafting top-down laws if the foundational elements were broken. - **Creative Expression as Communication:** Art is presented as a mechanism that bypasses language barriers (e.g., the Japanese couple in Japan). - **International Artistic Influence:** Citing historical precedents (e.g., Shakir Hassan embracing Sufism, Henry Moore influenced by Mesopotamian art) to show artistic continuity across disruption. - **The Movement Formation:** Surveying local artists revealed they needed the "latest tools" and desperately needed to end "isolation." ## Timeline & Sequence - **Age 15:** Speaker faced the life-changing decision about art school. - **Period at Oxford/Law Firms:** Speaker focused on nation-building via law. - **2005:** Speaker managed the process for drafting the permanent constitution of Iraq with the UN. - **Night Before Key Realization:** Speaker flooded his room, simulating the return of life/water in the middle of the night. - **Present Day:** The realization that the global art world is moving fast and Iraq is in danger of being left behind. ## Named Entities - **College of Art Baghdad:** Location where the speaker encountered the initial dilemma regarding art's feasibility. - **United Nations (UN):** Body that accepted the speaker's plan for mediating the drafting of the Constitution of Iraq. - **Rasheed hotel:** Location where the speaker experienced the pivotal night of the flooded room. - **New York based Iraqi AR artist:** Creator of the piece that surgically embedded a camera into the back of his head. - **The Met of qat:** Museum where the speaker saw the video art piece. - **Japan:** Country of origin for the couple who connected through art. - **NYU / Princeton:** Institutions whose teachers supported the movement, offering support for free. ## Numbers & Data - Number of art students in Baghdad: **3,000**. - Age when speaker had the first decision: **15 years old**. - Year of drafting the Constitution of Iraq: **2005**. - Duration of the Japanese couple viewing the art piece: **three hours**. - Video art piece duration: **9 minutes**. - Time frame for global art world speed: **moving so fast that...**. - Years of Mesopotamian civilization embodied: **10,000 years**. ## Examples & Cases - **The Art Exhibition:** A "quite risque pretty risque exhibition" at the College of Art Baghdad, raising questions about artistic permission and audience necessity. - **Speaker's Personal Narrative:** The shift from being unsure about art to becoming a lawyer focused on nation-building. - **The Flooded Room Dream:** Waking up after flooding his room in the middle of the night, juxtaposing the room flooding with a "destroyed country." - **The Artist's Piece:** A New York-based Iraqi AR artist surgically embedding a camera into the back of his head to record surroundings and illustrate the fear of national loss. - **The Art Connection:** An enthralled couple from Japan spending three hours in front of a 9-minute video art piece, connecting despite speaking Japanese and Arabic (or English). - **Historical Artistic Lineage:** Henry Moore being influenced by Mesopotamian art, and the modern potential of Iraqi artists to echo this heritage. - **Post-Conflict Art Bloom:** Comparing the current situation to New York, which saw beautiful Hip Hop street art develop after a dark period. ## Tools, Tech & Products - **AR (Augmented Reality) Technology:** Used by the Iraqi artist to embed a camera into the back of his head for artistic documentation. - **Video Art:** Specifically a 9-minute piece shown at the Met of qat. - **The Latest Tools of Communication:** Broadly refers to modern technological methods used for art and communication. ## References Cited - **Medha Om:** Artist who revolutionized the Middle Eastern Contemporary Art scene in **1944** by fusing Islamic calligraphy in a free-flowing form. - **Shakar Hassan:** Artist who traveled to Europe and embraced Sufism, moving his style toward abstract impressionism. - **Henry Moore:** Sculptor who promoted Mesopotamian art and emphasized its beautiful simplicity and proportions. - **Sumerian love poetry:** Cited as part of the enduring cultural heritage. ## Counterarguments & Caveats - The immediate and direct model of "top down nation building" proved difficult to sustain when foundational elements were broken. - The speaker addresses the potential danger that the rapidly moving global art world could cause Iraq to be "left behind." - The necessity of external help, as local artists were "not looking for funding or any any sort of exes." ## Methodology - **Survey/Consultation:** Conducting a survey among College of Art teachers to understand the actual needs of local artists. - **Artistic Analysis:** Deconstructing art history and contemporary art forms to identify universal human needs (connection, expression). - **Comparative History:** Drawing parallels between art development after physical disasters (e.g., post-plague Europe, post-dark period New York) and Iraq’s potential recovery. ## Conclusions & Recommendations - Artists are needed as much as others need help; the artists are the "Visionaries." - The goal is not "Exodus," but to bring the international art community to Iraq to invest in it and connect people to people. - The primary action recommended is the sustained, international investment in Iraqi artists and art programs. ## Implications & Consequences - The resilience of Mesopotamian civilization (cultural spirit) outlasts physical destruction (drowning libraries, looting museums). - Art serves as a powerful agent for *empathy* and *unification* that transcends political divisions. - The ability to communicate through art can create new, positive paths forward that are pioneered by the artists themselves. ## Verbatim Moments - *"I asked the teachers at the College of Art is this allowed and they said of course it's allowed we have freedom of expression."* - *"If you know that you have no audience and if you know that you pretty much guaranteed no employment why would you study art why art?"* - *"I rebelled I rebelled I studied hard rebelliously hard and um and I went to Oxford."* - *"The issue was for me how can you how can you rebuild a nation if the foundations are broken?"* - *"what is it that makes us call each other Iraqi brothers and Iraqi sisters where's the soul of Iraq well it's our culture it's our culture."* - *"The big butt arts arts inspires and translates that Foundation into a country it provides Vision Innovation it's Forward Thinking and it it builds a country in two ways one through communication and two unification."* - *"Iraq is not part of this conversation now Iraq and the artists of Iraq they too explore their issues of today their hopes their dreams their fears but unseen and unheard in a vacuum."* - *"It's owned by everybody, and it's owned by nobody, but we really don't take care of it."* - *"I said about trying to help them so in completely in response to their uh their requests I basically I carried out a survey and they they told me that um again and again they weren't looking for funding or any any sort of exes they they were looking for the latest tools."* - *"let the cultural ambassadors our artists hold the flame and represent us on a world stage let's invest in our artists so that they can be heard."* - *"Mesopotamia is alive in every one of you you all embody 10,000 years of civilization and we are all we are all young Mesopotamians."*