Artist Hani.

casualty of war.

The Crime of the Century.

The Hostility of Saddam and Years Un-Accounted For.

In the dictator's eyes, the artist was a tool that he could use, a tool to be locked up and left in the prison of municipal
sculpture- making of evils! When there was a new palace built for the dictator, he took the most talented artists,
locked them in, and there they were forced to sculpt and paint.
The artists were not allowed to leave the palace before all jobs were finished.
The artist had to face the consequences of missing any detail of that evil face.
If the artist was lucky, he was sent to prison. But - The Iraqi artist was Victim Number One,
his name was at the top of the dictator's list. The artists found themselves constant- ly in search of the years which were un- accounted for, as many as 35 years lost in suffering, pain and sorrow: the culmination of his day.

Surrender, he shall not! The artists always restored their spirit and faced challenges, they knew that they had a message to be delivered, a message not yet heard. They would not allow themselves to be uncounted for, neglected or forgotten. The artists wanted to be with the world's free people and would not accept a life less meaningful than this. They continued to march regardless of how black their night, through the dark tunnel of Saddam Hussein. They continued to walk towards their desti- nation to see their dreams come true.

THE PROMISE
Hemmed to his faith, the Iraqi artist promised himself and God that he would work for the progress and prosperity
of his country, and that his name would be forever written in the history book, on one of the brightest pages,
proudly endorsed, and significantly recognized, and acknowledged. The support of the world's free people always
reinforces our belief that we are not alone, not forgotten, and that someday we will celebrate the freedom of Iraq.

The Tragedy of Hani.

On the 2nd day of the war I was in Dubai speaking on the phone with a very talented and creative Baghdad artist that
I represent, Hani Dali Ali. Hani, who is well known in our region for his art, told me about some of the works that he
had finally finished, which were ready to be sent to Dubai right after the war was over for an exhibition scheduled to
be held in Paris on the 29th of October, which did not take place. Day 8 of the war… 6:45 in the morning the telephone
started ringing. Waking from deep sleep, I picked up the receiver and started talking: "Who is it?" I couldn't hear anybody
on the other end! I repeated, "Who is on the other line please?" The voice came from so deep that I could hardly hear due to great damage done to the telecommunication system caused by the war. I shouted, "Who is it? Who is there?" I was pressing
the receiver to my ear, and finally the sound came again, but this time more clear, it was Hani! He said, "I think my house has
been hit by a missile or a bomb, or maybe some kind of explosion!" He continued, "My garden, my garden, the bomb fell in my garden…" I replied, "Yes, yes the garden, but are you all right?" He said, "Yes, yes I am OK, but Zaki the fire reached the kitchen and the living room where I kept all the paintings ready for the Paris exhibition, I don't know what to do now, Zaki!" Trying to calm him down and encourage him, I replied, "Hani, you are still alive, this is what maters now, try to put yourself together and never surrender, start work- ing again and I will try to arrange another exhibition, I will call Paris and try to post- pone the exhibition, OK Hani?" Hani replied, "Please do that." And he added, "Please call me back and tell me about the new arrangement, should it be.

You see, Zaki! I lost my paintings and my chance to exhibit in Paris, I lost more than six months of work, I need your help.
Please tell them it's not my fault" Suddenly there was interference, and I replied, "I will, I will Hani…."


Destiny of the Hani Colors.

Two weeks later I went to Baghdad to visit my family and also to see Hani. Getting to Hani's house was a nightmare,
streets like a battlefield due to the massive military presence, tanks everywhere, heli- copters overhead, checkpoints every- where, no electricity. When I finally arrived at Hani's house, Hani immediately took my hand and led me to the living room
to show me the remains of his burnt art. Some of Hani's work was executed on wood and had, amazingly enough, survived
the fire while others were half burned. Apart from a few pieces, those executed on canvas were totally destroyed.
I looked at the paintings in absolute silence and I felt that each one of Hani's works had a story of its own, each
wanting to speak, to tell me what had happened. Those beautiful hues of Hani's can touch the colors of the rainbow… But suddenly, They were the target of a tragedy caused by a war he did not choose. For Hani, colors are a bridge that one day
he will cross to reach his freedom. Hani looked at me, his eyes sparkling, trying not to let tears fall. Hani spoke sadly, "
See Zaki, look what they've done to me, see how easy - Seven months of hard work just gone! You know, Zaki?"
He pointed to his work and said, "This, the destiny of my work - And this is the tragedy of my paintings." How could this
happen to an artist who devoted his entire life to the mission of peace and love, participating in God's philosophy:

TO LIVE FOR LOVE and not otherwise.

I said to Hani, "I have an idea! If you agree, I will take all those damaged works with me to New York and have them exhibited for the Americans to witness." But Hani asked, "What do you do with burnt art? How can you exhibit burnt art?" I said, "This
will be a message, Hani. This will be a message to the world's free people." Hani responded, "Of course Zaki, of course you
can take them, but I will add something on each one expressing the sor- row inside me to make people understand my real feelings. “Zaki, promise me you will make a small ceremony, to put a small candle next to the paintings every day of the
exhibi- tion and also put next to them a small plaque saying; and he said in Arabic:

BURNT ART FOR A BURNT-HEART ARTIST.


The Scene of the Crime: The Crime of the 21st Century.

BILLIONS OF EYES WITNESSED THE CRIME.

Iraqi artists are among those Iraqis weeping for the massacre of their history, the inhuman act of the horrific crime against culture, history, the murder of the world's first ever civilization. Billions of eyes witnessed and weep for the crime and watch how Mesopotamia has been slaugh- tered on the stairway of the temple of evil. A tortured history, a stolen treasure, our originality massacred, the first footprints ever left by mankind have been destroyed.

THE LAST PAGE OF THE LIFE OF THE IRAQI ARTIST REFUSES TO TURN.

"Where is the blue sky in these paint- ings?" ask the people and the media of the world's free countries. "What do artists face living in Iraq?" The stories I can tell are sad, sad stories. I wish these questions came at a different time and a different era. I would be able to talk about the inheritors of the Mesopotamian civilization, their talent and creativity, their promising future. But unfortunately what the dictator offered was not light but darkness, not love but hatefulness, not peace but war, not reality
but illusions. Iraqi people don't have money for food and medicine. Would anybody believe that the country Iraqi artists
call home holds the world's second largest oil reserve? The land between the two rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, this land
was called the fertile crescent, the cradle of civilization. Yet Iraqi artists can't even buy a paint brush, or milk for a newborn
baby. Suffering in Iraq was, and still is, as great as an ocean. We Iraqis are waiting for the last chapter of the story of pain
to be read. But when?



Although born in Iraq, Zaki Al-Obaidi has lived outside of his country for most of his life. Wanting to do what he could
to help his people, he opened and operated art galleries in Copenhagen, Kuwait, Baghdad and UAE. His gallery and four shops in Kuwait were closed in 1990 when he was forced to leave Kuwait due to Saddam's invasion of the country. In 1998 his Baghdad restaurant and gallery were shut down by Saddam Hussein's sons after only one
year of business. Zaki now represents many Iraqi artists and arranges exhibitions for them all over the world.

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