Commissioned in part by Carnegie Museum of Art for the 58th Carnegie International
Ali Eyal’s (b. 1994 in The Forest; lives and works in the Small Farm) work, in the words of writer Rana Issa, “artistically pursues traumatic events in the contemporary history of Iraq through the intimate and tragic impact it has on his own life […] and continues to experience exile from home, loved ones, and country.” Experimenting with painting, video, archival practices, poetics, and performance, Eyal’s works reach out for a life that barely lingers in rapidly fading memories. For some years, he has withheld biographic information and has refused to have his portrait taken “in dialogue with the missing persons, with the lost villages and destroyed houses.”
Where Does A Thought Go When It’s Forgotten? And. (2019-22) was first shown at Ashkal Alwan in Beirut but was on view for only one day, before the exhibition was closed in support of the 2018 mass protests that swept Lebanon. Largely painted on manila envelopes, the works feature plants that are loosely inspired by illustrations from books on the flora of Iraq and can be filed away in much the same manner as forlorn bureaucratic records of the irrecoverable.
