Mohammed Sami (b. 1984 in Baghdad; lives and works in London) paints landscapes, still lifes, personal belongings, interiors, and the urban environment, but the human figure remains absent of his compositions. If the body does appear, it surfaces as a shadow, wrapped in cloth, or in the form of a statue. The artist has described his process as “belated memory response” or a “memory masquerading as light on shadows.” His work invokes images of things that might have been seen or experienced but were not registered at the time.
Sami’s practice is informed by Arabic literature, and in particular, literary devices such as taoria, whereby a statement has a double and, at times, contradictory meaning. In dialogue with this tradition, Sami’s paintings speak to that which lies beyond the canvas and cannot be represented. In this selection of works, the artist depicts a boarded-up window softened with star-patterned lace curtains (23 Years of Night, 2022), a piece of clothing hanging on a wall (Abu Ghraib, 2022), and a mound of earth behind what appears to be a hole in the ground (Your Place Waiting You II, 2022). In these paintings, the artist transports us to the scene after war’s violent disruptions and events, illuminating the quiet, transitory moments that grasp the fragility of life in passing.
