Ibrahim Rashid
Prayer for the Absent, 1980s
Charcoal on paper
22 x 28 cm
Ibrahim Rashid worked as an illustrator from 1975 into the 1980s,
first at Tariq al-Shaab and later at Afaq Arabiya, where image-making became, in his words,
a coded language for those who could read between the lines.
Tariq al-Shaab ("People's Path") was a left-wing newspaper and one of the few platforms where
poets, artists, and thinkers outside the ruling party could publish and convene.
Four years after Rashid joined, the paper was banned amid a months-long purge
that saw its staff and affiliates imprisoned, executed, or driven into exile.
Afaq Arabiya (آفاق عربية) was a Baghdad literary magazine operating within the state cultural apparatus,
and an exemplar of the literature and art that emerged amid the existential conflicts experienced by the region during the 1980s.
Under absolute censorship, artists and poets used metaphor and illustration to carry meaning that could not be stated directly.
Several of the poets Rashid worked alongside were assassinated or forced into exile.