Lorna Selim née Hales was born and raised in the United Kingdom, but never detached from her roots in Iraq. In Baghdad in 1950, Selim was captivated by the Iraqi countryside and its people. In the artwork Unknown (1958), the painter depicted a trio that might represent a mother carrying her son on her shoulder, standing next to her daughter. Using a two-dimensional perspective, Selim chose a style that reduces the main body parts to almost abstract elements. The almond- shaped eyes of the protagonists, who are fixed in hieratic postures, are a clear stylistic reference to the art of sculpture from the Sumerian period in the third century BCE. The Iraqi artist also applied a limited palette of colours – including ochre, brown, and beige – whose tones recall the earthy colours of Mesopotamian artefacts. The image of the peasant family symbolises the traditions on which the modern nation of Iraq was founded and which are passed down from one generation to another.
This is the first time the work of Lorna Selim is presented at Biennale Arte.
—Arthur Debsi
