BIOGRAPHY

Maysaloun Faraj is a painter, sculptor and ceramist. Born in California, USA (1955) to Iraqi parents, she moved to Iraq in 1968, graduated with a BSc in Architecture (Baghdad University 1978), and departed to live in London with her husband, the architect Ali Mousawi (1982). Soon after, she relocated to Paris with her young family, and in two years, returned to live in London where she was able to further her art education. In later years, Faraj revisited Paris as a resident of the Al-Mansouria Foundation at the Cité International des Arts (2015/17/18).

Her visual vocabulary is colour and basic geometric form; an ideal realm for order and harmony. Amid an aesthetic informed by architectural discipline, is a complex web of references, bridging East and West, ancient and contemporary, the public and the highly intimate, often pondering on ‘spirituality’ and the transience of human existence.

“The story I want to share is my challenge as an artist, a woman, a Muslim and an American-born Iraqi, living outside the motherland.”

Besides her own artwork, Faraj initiated and lead a multi-faceted project to bring the works of Iraqi artists to the fore; Strokes of Genius: Contemporary Iraqi Art (1995-2003). Supported by Arts Council England, this comprised a ground-breaking UK-USA exhibition tour, the first ever website to feature the works of Iraqi artists world-wide and a seminal publication of which she is editor. In 2002, she co-founded Aya Gallery London with her architect husband Ali Mousawi, curating important exhibitions with focus on modern and contemporary art from Iraq. In 2008 Faraj was invited to serve as a judge for the first Arab Art and Culture Award in the UK. After years dedicated to putting Iraqi Art on the map, gaining the interest of museums, collectors and international auction houses, she decided that time was due to focus back on her own art. This culminated in the solo exhibition Boats and Burdens: Kites and Shattered Dreams 2009, which was inaugurated by Venetia Porter, curator of Modern Middle East at the British Museum and subsequent residencies at the Cité International des Arts in Paris 2015/17/18,

In March 2020, with the Covid-19 pandemic and the ‘Stay at Home’ predicament, Faraj embarked on new beginnings with HOME series, which culminated in a solo-exhibition at Mark Hachem Gallery in Paris and the publication of the special limited edition publication HOME: Lockdown 2020-22.

Her work is in notable private and public collections world-wide. Maysaloun Faraj lives and works in London.

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2024 Let Us Be Light Galerie Mark Hachem Paris

2024 Home • Shooting Stars and Wings almarkhiya gallery Doha, Qatar

2022 HOME Lockdown 2020-22 Galerie Mark Hachem Paris

2018 Shooting Stars: Baghdad A Paris Cité des Arts Paris

2009 Boats and Burdens: Kites and Shattered Dreams Ayagallery London

1995 Once Upon a Culture SOAS (School of Oriental & African Studies) London

1994 Oriental Delight Trocadero London

1992 Sisters in Harmony River Gardens London

1991 Faith Argile Gallery London

1990 Ya Rab Rochan Gallery Motcomb Street London

1989 Home Sweet Home Artists Studio Baghdad

1987 Nostalgia Artists Studio London

1985 Vibrations from my Past Espace 2000 Paris

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2023 Contemporary Istanbul with Mark Hachem Gallery 27 Sept - 1 Oct Istanbul, Turkey

- Menart Fair (Middle East & North Africa Art) with Mark Hachem Gallery, Belgium Brussels

2022 Artists’ Books, Poetry to Politics, British Museum, London UK

2022 Hidden UK, Hidden Ireland, curated by Sean Scully, Flowers Gallery, London UK

2020/21 Art in Isolation: Creativity in the Time of COVID-19 Middle East Institute,Washington USA

2018 Mapping the Art of the Arab World Selections Publishing, Dubai | Brussels

2016 Abu Dhabi Art Ayyam Gallery UAE

2015 Resident Artist Cité Internationale des Arts Paris France

2014 Get Acquainted Sharjah Calligraphy Biennial Sixth Edition UAE

2010 One Thousand and One Nights William Paterson University New Jersey USA

2009 The Recessionists British Art and Art from the Middle East Somerset UK

- Creativity vs Destruction: Stories of Iraqi Art Reel Iraq Roxy Art House Edinburgh Scotland

2008 Iraq's Past Speaks to the Present British Museum London

- Word into Art British Museum and DIFC Dubai UAE

2006 Occupied Space: Art for Palestine Palestine Solidarity & Qattan Foundation London

2004 Seed Body & Soul: Artists Against Depleted Uranium Earls Court London

2003 Cities of Iraq: Samarra to Baghdad (Islamic Culture in Focus) British Museum London

- Diversity in Harmony University of Michigan Dearborn USA

- Before After Now: Visions of Iraq Deluxe Gallery Hoxton Square London

2002 Islamic World Painting Biennial Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art Iran

- Calligraphy Beit al-Quran Manama Bahrain

- Master Strokes October Gallery London UK

2001 Contemporary Arab Art Wereldmuseum Rotterdam Netherlands

2000/3 Strokes of Genius: Contemporary Iraqi Art Tour UK & USA: Brunei Gallery SOAS London, Exeter University, Hotbath Galleries Bath, Grinnell College Iowa, DePaul
University Chicago

2000 Arab Cultures: Young Worlds British Museum London

1999 Artists for Human Rights Durban South Africa

- Dialogue of the Present Tour London Brighton and Brunell

1998 20th Anniversary of Egee Art Soni Gallery London

1997 Homage to Jewad Selim Kufa Gallery London

- Art in Hammersmith Riverside Studios London

- Breaking Down the Boundaries Pits Hanger Gallery London

1996 Eastern & Icelandic Art: William Morris Centenary Wimbledon Library London

1995 Arabian Eyes: Arab Women Art Bait al-Sirkal Ministry of Culture & Information Sharjah UAE

1994 Forces of Change: Artists from the Arab World National Museum for Women in the Arts: Tour Washington Chicago California

- Culture & Continuity Midlands Art Centre Birmingham

1992 Out of Iraq Camden Lock Market London