The plight of the Middle East is reflected through artwork during “A Hope And Peace To End All Hope And Peace” which is running at Jim Thompson Art Center, until March 10.
This is a solo exhibition by Kurdish artist Rushdi Anwar who explores the cause and effect of arbitrary lines drawn by foreign powers in their fight to control what has historically been called the Middle East.
Three key subjects are central to this exhibition. The first is the Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916, a colonial secret pact designed by Britain and France that senselessly divided the Middle East into a continuing oil-fueled chaos.
The second involves the human agents that history debates as the champions of Kurdish culture and its sovereignty — from Ezidi Mirza (1600-1651), a Yazidis military hero who challenged the Ottoman Empire; and Sheikh Mahmud Barzanji (1878-1956), a much-loved “king” and bane of the British Empire’s desire to control Kurdish territory; to Hoshyar Byawelaiy, a Kurd committed to the single-handed demining of Kurdish land today.
The last is the mimicry of colonial methodologies of terror — from British propaganda to Saddam Hussein and Isis campaigns — a landscape, both human and non-human, suffering mass displacement and destruction that continues to be ravaged by proxy wars and religious extremism.
Through sculptures, installations, sounds and moving images, the exhibition focuses on the plight of the Middle East, highlighting its heroes who became villains, its friends who became enemies, understanding that the colonial mechanizations that have shaped its current condition are of parallel to the history of Southeast Asia, a region that continues to endure the ramifications of the colonial empire and its desire to divide, conquer and exploit.
Jim Thompson Art Center is located at Soi Kasemsan 2 and opens daily from 10am to 6pm.
An installation by Rushdi Anwar. photo courtesy of Rushdi