Bilal Bahir
°1988, Baghdad, Iraq.
Lives and works in Belgium.
Bahir’s artistic practice unfolds in series of drawings and mixed-media works that connect personal memory with a broader historical imagination.
His work is rooted in a continuous exploration of cultural diversity and the construction of meaning over time. He draws on ancient myths, symbols, and texts—especially from Mesopotamia, the cradle of civilization—as a starting point for a poetic and critical investigation of identity, knowledge, and origin.
By using old books, archival paper, and historical maps as supports, he creates visual narratives in which the autobiographical and the universal intertwine. His drawings are layered, intuitive, script-like reflections, where philosophical questions take shape through gesture, repetition, and traces.
With a sensitivity that is both precise and dreamlike, Bilal Bahir constructs a personal cosmology. His work does not aim to illustrate history but to engage with it, allowing timeless themes to emerge through a visual language of rhythm, imagery, and silence.
Resume:
Selected Exhibitions
2025, Solo, Investec Cape Town Art Fair, AYN Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa 2024, Solo, SECONDroom Antwerpen, Antwerp, BE
2024, Group, Betekendt, Kunstenhuis, Harelbeke, BE
2023, Solo, Magic Carpet, AYN Gallery, Paris, FR
2023, Group, MENART Fair, Boghossian Foundation – Villa Empain, Brussels, BE
2022, Group, Finis Terrea, Museum Plantin-Moretus, Antwerp, BE (Geukens & De Vil)
2022, Group, L’Enfer c’est le Manque des Autres, Black Swan Gallery, Bruges, BE
2022, Duo, Inescapable, Gallery Sofie Van den Bussche, Brussels, BE
2022, Group, Rêveries, Verduyn Gallery, Oost-Vlaanderen, BE
2022, Group, Geweld & Mededogen, Sint-Maartenskerk, Kortrijk, BE
2021, Group, Biennale d’Art Contemporain, Mountados, GR
2021, Group, Triennale Brugge: TraumA, De Poortersloge, Bruges, BE
2020, Solo, Me, Myself and I, Black Swan Gallery, Bruges, BE
2020, Festival, ARTONOV Festival, Museum of the National Bank of Belgium, Brussels, BE
2020, Group, Rhythm of Forgotten Joy, Kunstkomplex & Mennuni, Basel, CH
2019, Group, Gallery S&H De Buck, Ghent, BE
2019, Solo, Rhythm of Forgotten Joy, Kunstkomplex, Wuppertal, DE
2019, Group, Entre le sommeil et le songe, Black Swan Gallery, Bruges, BE
2019, Group, NOIR Brussels, Art & History Museum, Musée du Cinquantenaire, Brussels, BE
2019, Group, Inner / Outer, Cultural Center De Ververij, Ronse, BE
2018, Solo, Dans l’intimité des crinolines, Prix du Parlement, Brussels, BE
2018, Group, Intimacy, Gallery S&H De Buck, Ghent, BE
2018, Group, Ensorceler – Guérir, Musée du Carnaval et du Masque, Binche, BE
2017, Group, Ensorceler – Guérir, Centre Albert Marinus – La Médiatine, Brussels, BE 2016, Group, Magic and Power, Marta Herford Museum, Herford, DE
2016, Group, Up in the Air, Artefact Festival, STUK, Leuven, BE
2016, Group, Espèces d’espaces, Space Collection, Lieux-Communs, Namur, BE
2016, Solo, Rivoli Gallery, Brussels, BE
2015, Group, Heaven and Hell – From Magic Carpets to Drones, Villa Empain, Brussels, BE 2015, Group, Exhibition, Mimar Sinan University, Istanbul, TR
2015, Group, Art Up Art Fair, Lille, FR
2014, Group, St-Art Fair, Strasbourg, FR
2014, Installation, Ithaka 22, Leuven, BE
2014, Group, État de la Question, Maison de la Culture, Namur, BE
2013, Group, Biennale of Contemporary Art, Wanze, BE
2010, Group, Art of Conflict – Identity in War, Tarnish and Gold Gallery, Minneapolis, US
Collections
2019, Belgium’s FPS Foreign Affairs Collection, BE
2017, Private Collection, National Bank of Belgium
2016, Installation and portraits related to the artist’s roots, BELvue Museum, Brussels, BE
Awards & Distinctions
2014, Namurois de l’année for artistic creation, Namur, BE 2012, First Prize Lambert Lecrenier, Huy, BE