BAGHDAD: As part of an official initiative to beautify Baghdad, an Iraqi artist decorates the capital's streets with colorful murals, including portraits of cultural figures.
Putting the final touches on a mural depicting a well-known Iraqi poet, artist Wijdan al-Majid said her works both aimed at beautifying the capital and increasing people's knowledge of personalities that marked Iraqi society.
"We beautify some places but with an awareness that is different from previous beautification (projects). They used to focus on landscapes, like the marshes, landscapes that people are used to (seeing). But here, the idea is different. These are important personalities that had an impact on society," said Majid.
With their bright and warm colors, the murals include portraits of painters and poets. Some figures on the murals were not known by everyone among the general public, Majid said, adding that her paintings triggered curiosity.
Fahed Kadhem, a fine arts student, said, "These paintings are very important, they give a special color and taste to the streets of Baghdad. And we also got to know many artists, writers and personalities that seemed not to be famous, but are famous in the field. And we are really, really happy about these paintings because they will be part of our daily life."
Majid added that before, she and her artist colleagues were primarily doing exhibitions and thus mostly had impact on other artists and students. But now she believes that her artwork can have an impact on everyone and on society as a whole.
"We also started (to paint) Ali al-Wardi, Max Weber, Picasso, Edward Salim, (the mayor of Baghdad) chose Iraqi personalities and international ones, as well as Arab ones. Because he did not want Iraqi people's awareness to be limited to local Iraqi personalities only, he wanted to spread a more international (awareness). So he worked on (enhancing) Iraqis' awareness," said Majid.
In the framework of this initiative by the mayor of Baghdad to beautify the city, Majid said she already completed about 15 murals in Baghdad, with each taking her about four days to complete.
