Ala Bashir

Who is Ala Bashir?

Ala Bashir is the most celebrated Iraqi painter, sculptor and plastic surgeon. His works of art have been shown in several international exhibitions in, for example, France, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Austria, Germany, Yugoslavia, Italy, Russia, Qatar, Morocco, Libya, India, Tunisia, Egypt, the United States, Iraq and currently at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore-USA.

Ala Bashir earned many national and international awards, among which are the Gold Medal in the Biennale International Exhibition in Baghdad in 1988, the second prize in the International Poster Exhibition in Paris in 1983 and Iraq's highest State Award for Fine Art in 2003.

Bashir designed two historically important monuments in Baghdad: "The Union", a statue, depicting the love between man and woman. This monument has been destroyed by Iraqi Authority in February 2010. "The Cry", a statue, depicting the tragedy of the Amiyria shelter, where 400 women and children were killed by an air strike in February 1991 during the First Gulf War—the monument is located close to the shelter.