Painter
Afifa Aleiby
Afifa Aleiby is an Iraqi artist currently living in the Netherlands. She was born in the city of Basra, in the utmost southern part of Iraq in 1952.
She took up her studies at the Institute of Fine Arts in Baghdad while working as an illustrator for the Iraqi press, before leaving Iraq for the Soviet Union in 1974 to study and specialize in monumental art at the renowned Surikov Institute in Moscow.
Due to the political situation in Iraq, she was unable to return to her native country after the completion of her studies.
She, therefore, decided to go to Italy and later Moscow. After having traveled to Italy a second time, she settled in Yemen to work as a teacher at the institute of fine Arts in Aden, where she also illustrated children’s books and magazines.
Aleiby has since been living and working in the Netherlands, and keeps contributing to plenty of cultural activities in support of the Iraqi and international democratic movement, in the struggle against terrorism, racism, war, and dictatorship.
Her connection to humanity and different cultures have made solidarity transcending geographical and cultural borders an important theme in Afifa’s work.
Bringing together different influences from Renaissance painting to religious icons and social realism, she uses the female figure as a recurring motif to reflect beauty, taste, politics, and society.
She has participated in numerous art exhibitions, from Baghdad and Moscow to Yemen, Italy, Syria, Lebanon, England, and the United States.
Including the MoMA PS1 and the Kristin Hjellegjerde, London (Wandsworth).
Her work has been offered at auction multiple times.
