Azad Karim Mohammed

Heterotopia 1, 2019
Wood, plastic and LED lighting
160 x 38 x 50 cm 

Heterotopia I, part of the Heterotopia project, draws on the artist’s personal experience through his journey of exile. In exploring the notions of home in the aftermath of forced displacement, it seeks to uncover the dynamics affecting the relationship between narratives of belonging, as embedded in the refugee experiences of displacement and exile.

“The exile journey is a map of my destiny, from citizen to exiled person, and yet again to foreign citizen. The journey to replace home continues,” Mohammed said in a statement.

“The central theme of my project is the connection between people and place in the aftermath of forced displacement. It seeks to uncover the dynamics affecting this relationship by exploring narratives of home and belonging embedded in diaspora experiences of displacement and exile.”

Artist’s biography

Azad Karim Mohammed was born in Erbil, Kurdistan in 1966. He studied Fine Arts (majoring in sculpture) at Baghdad University in 1985-1992, before relocating to Middlesbrough in 2001. There, he graduated from an MA with Distinction and an Academy Prize. Azad has been involved in the establishment of many art and community organisations, including the Fine Arts College in Erbil, Kurdistan, in 1992. He founded the Saabat Gallery in 2014 in Middlesbrough, England. Azad’s works have been displayed in many solo and group exhibitions in Iraq and England, and reviewed in national and international publications.  He has also created public art works in both Iraq
and England.

Azad is currently a PhD researcher at Teesside University and a Senior Lecturer at the School of Fine Arts, Salahaddin University. He is also the Director of the Saabat Gallery.