Bilal Bahir
°1988, Baghdad, Iraq.
Lives and works in Belgium.
Graduated in 2008 at 'The Institute of Fine Arts', Baghdad, sculpture. His artistic research is interested in the diversity of cultures in a vast chronological perspective. He develops a biographical and political dimension to end up with cycles of drawings and sketches with a dreamlike and poetic character.
It raises the question of the state of war and human existence through the many changes in Iraqi society, be it cultural, political or economic changes.
The pictorial elements express the artist's deep commitment to the great questions of our time: the place of the individual in the midst of the conflicts and changes that are shaking the world and touching the human being at the heart of his life.
The red line that runs through all his artistic work originates in the cradle of humanity: Mesopotamia. This is where the artist 's interrogation begins, an interrogation that he shows through a panorama of striking historical and cultural facts.
Through his drawings, Bahir, like a screenwriter, unfolds his reflections with the help of images of lived or dreamed events. On pages of ancient books, he unfolds his world, his dreams and the harsh reality.
Bilal Bahir
Selected exhibitions:
2022, Finis Terrea, a city wide exhibition by gallery Geukens & Devil, Antwerp, BE
2022, ‘Inescapable’ duo exhibition at Gallery Sofie Van den Bussche,Bruxelles,BE
2022, L'Enfer c'est le Manque des Autres, Black Swan Gallery, Bruges, BE
2022, Geweld & Mededogen at Sint-Maartenskerk, Kortrijk,BE
2021, BIENNALE D’ART CONTEMPORAIN DE MOUNTADOS ,GR
2021, Triënnale Brugge 2021: TraumA at De Poortersloge,Bruges, BE
2020, 'Rythm of forgotten joy' Kunstkomplex & Mennuni, Basel, CH
2020, 'Couples d'Artistes', Adoráble ART + DESIGN, The Hague NL
2019, Gallery S&H De Buck ,Gent, BE
2019, 'Rythm of forgotten joy' Gallery Kunstkomplex, Wuppertal , DE
2019, Entre le sommeil et le songe, Black Swan Gallery, Bruges, BE
2019, The Beauty of the Invisible , What Else, art center, Mesnil Eglise, BE
2019, Noir Brussels,Musée du Cinquantenaire, Art & History Museum,Brussels,BE
2019, Inner / Outer, group show, Culturel Center De Ververij, Ronse, BE
2018, 'Dans l’intimité des crinolines', Prix du Parlement, Parlement de la FWB, Brussels, BE
2018, Intimacy, Galerie S&H de Buck, Ghent, BE
2018, Ensorceler-Guérir, Musée du Carnaval et du Masque de Binche, BE
2017, Ensorceler-Guérir, Center Albert Marinus-La Médiatine,Bruxelles, BE
2016, Magic and Power, Marta Herford Museum, Herford, DE
2016, Up in the Air, Artefact Festival, STUK, Leuven, BE
2016, Especes d'espaces, Space Collection, curator Lieux-communs, Namur, BE
2016, Solo at Rivoli, Brussels, BE
2015, Heaven and Hell, From magic carpets to drones,Villa Empain, Brussels,BE
2015, Quinze au cube, Galerie Détour, Jambes, BE
2015, Exihibition at the university Mimar Sinan, Istanbul,TR
2015, OFF Course, Contemporary Art Fair, Bruxelles, BE
2015, Art Up, Art Fair, Lille, FR
2014, St Art, Art fair, Strasbourg, FR
2014, Installation for Intersections, Bister, Namur,BE
2014, Installation, Ithaka 22, Leuven, BE
2014, Etat de la Question, Maison de la Culture, Namur, BE
2013, Biennale contempory art, Wanze, BE
2010, Art of Conflict, Identity in War, galerie Tarnish and Gold Minneapolis,US