MOSUL, Iraq (Mar. 3, 2006) -- Taking a photograph is one way for Soldiers to bring back their memories and experiences during their time here in Iraq.
What if that Soldier could take their favorite photograph of theirs and turn it into a modern day work of art?
At Forward Operating Base Courage they can, with a little help from Mahmoud "The Painter".
Mahmoud is the local artist on FOB Courage. He can be found at either one of his two business locations, one being his studio and the other being his gallery. He designs, paints and draws everything from family portraits to the various icons different military battalions and companies use to identify their units.
Although he admits to initially having trouble adjusting to the different style of American features in his paintings, he has finely tuned his skills to accommodate his clients.
"I received a lot of complaints at first," he said. "I wasn't used to drawing the features of American faces so it took some time to get it right."
In his gallery, he sells his canvas paintings. There, one can find a wide array of his different styles of still life, landscape and portrait painting.
His studio is located behind the gallery and houses all of his artist materials and tools. There he spends countless hours working on the many different requests that he receives.
Free time is something that Mahmoud is short on.
"I have probably painted around 8,000 pieces since I have been here over the past three years," he said.
Mahmoud has also had an interesting and dangerous life. He started to paint when he was 7 years old after his relatives praised his drawings.
In 1993, he defected from the Iraqi Army and fled to northern Iraq where he was an art teacher in Irbil-Sulaimaniya from 1995 through 1997.
In 1997 he returned to Mosul where he was arrested by Iraqi security forces for an exhibition he participated in about the Halabja massacre in Irbil.
He was originally planned for execution but was instead sentenced to 30 years imprisonment.
While in jail, he still painted and was able to set up exhibitions in Mosul and Baghdad.
After five years in prison, he was released in 2002 just prior to Operation Iraqi Freedom. He then applied for a job with coalition forces working as a vendor and has been at FOB Courage ever since.
"I'm grateful that I am able to show my art to an international audience," Mahmoud said. "My paintings are brought back to the U.S. where they can see the work that I do."
In the future, Mahmoud has ambitions to move to the U.S. and open up his own gallery.
| Date Taken: |
03.11.2006 |
| Date Posted: |
03.11.2006 09:30 |
| Story ID: |
5672 |
| Location: |
MOSUL, IQ |
| Web Views: |
1,032 |
| Downloads: |
546 |
PUBLIC DOMAIN
This work, The Arts of War, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
