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Iraqi-Canadian hip-hop producer and rapper known by his nickname, “The Narcicyst,” presented a lecture Thursday at the Mills International Center and performed afterward at the EMU. (Nate Barrett/Oregon Daily Emerald)
Sundus Abdul Hadi @@http://www.warchestra.com/@@and Yassin Alsalman@@http://www.iraqisthebomb.com/@@ may have been born in the United Arab Emirates to Iraqi parents, but they now live in Canada. And while Hadi and Alsalman may currently make art and work in Montreal, the subject of their work is often Iraq and the Middle East.
Hadi, a mixed-media artist and Alsalman, a hip-hop producer and rapper better known as “The Narcicyst,” @@http://www.iraqisthebomb.com/@@have dealt with the issue of identity in culture for much of their lives — especially a juxtaposition of Canadian, Quebecois and Iraqi culture.@@http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quebecois@@
The two were the centerpiece of the University’s Arab Arts Festival@@http://calendar.uoregon.edu/EventList.aspx?fromdate=2/23/2012&todate=2/23/2012&display=Day&type=public&eventidn=1071&view=EventDetails&information_id=6473@@. The event, put on by the Arab Student Union, the Multicultural Center and the Cultural Forum, took place Wednesday and Thursday in the EMU.
On Wednesday, Hadi showed her work and gave a lecture at the Mills International Center. @@http://mills.uoregon.edu/@@Then, following his Thursday afternoon lecture, The Narcicyst, along with Kuwati/Portland artist, BigMo@@http://www.facebook.com/ThaRealBigMo@@, performed at the EMU.@@http://calendar.uoregon.edu/EventList.aspx?fromdate=2/23/2012&todate=2/23/2012&display=Day&type=public&eventidn=1071&view=EventDetails&information_id=6473@@
On Wednesday night, Hadi presented her latest works as a part of the “WARCHESTRA” series and the “Flight” series, a sequence of paintings and sounds that deal with the clashes of war and culture and the Arab Spring.@@http://vimeopro.com/echoiraq/sundus-abdul-hadi/video/31830403@@
Hadi’s work on “WARCHESTRA” started soon after the war in Iraq began in 2003@@http://thinkprogress.org/report/iraq-timeline/?mobile=nc@@. Over the course of the following five years, Hadi collected hundreds of images of the conflict. She then began creating mixed-media collages and acrylic paintings that turn images of insurgents wielding weapons into producers of culture.
In one such collage, “Baghdead,” Hadi took images of insurgents holding an rocket-propelled grenade and an AK-47 and replaced the weapons with trumpets.
Another piece focused on the plight of Iraqi refugees and the challenges they face in seeking asylum. According to Hadi, there are currently more than 1.5 million Iraqi refugees@@she’s quite right. http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49e486426.html@@ — down from 2008 at the height of the exodus when there were 1.8 million refugees in Syria alone.
“I started thinking about, ‘What about all the U.S. military bases in the Middle East?’ There are hundreds of military bases all over the Middle East,” she said. “All of the countries allowed the Americans to come in with their weapons and to come in with their tanks and their troops and kind of take place in their countries, but yet they won’t allow Iraqi refugees who were affected by this war to stay legally in their countries.”
To this end, she created another “WARCHESTRA” piece titled “Violins and Bases.” @@http://www.nme.com/nme-video/youtube/id/TU_lT9Fv6Hw/search/produced-by-sundus-abdul-hadi-and-the-narcicyst@@The work shows a road of tanks and helicopters (replaced by violins and upright basses) leading into Iraq as a second road, covered with images of Iraqi refugees, leaves the country.
Over time, Hadi’s focus changed as she drew inspiration from current events.
“It started becoming less about censorship and more about a way to bridge war and culture,” Hadi told an audience of about 50. “I started seeing that the second casualty of war was the cultural life.”
Recently Hadi began work on the “Flight” series, another mixed-media collage that seeks to capture the uprising of the Arab Spring through a mix of photography, painting and calligraphy.
Throughout the evening, Hadi stressed the importance of artists keeping in touch with their communities.
“If there is no connection to the community, then you’re just sitting in your studio with a paintbrush,” she said. “If you don’t tell the stories that are burning inside of you, those stories will never get told. We can’t depend on the mainstream media to get these stories told.”
At his lecture on Thursday afternoon, Alsalman (The Narcicsyt) discussed modern and past colonialism, the Arab Spring and the birth of Arab hip-hop.
Over the course of the lecture, Alsalman encouraged the audience to always question what they see in the news.
“Read between the lines, and ask yourself if these revolutions are all good,” Alsalman said. “Where do the people who are put in power come from? What is really trying to be achieved? I don’t know the answer to these questions, but they are important to ask.”