Ziad Haider
Obituary Ziad Haider (1954-2006)
by Dineke Huizenga
The Iraqi painter Ziad Haider (1954, Amara) died of an heart attack Wednesday the 3rd of January. Ziad was since his student times in Baghdad a known and recognised artist. He won many prices inside and outside Iraq, and his work was sold to museums, galleries and private collectors. While in Iraq he exhibited regularly all over the world and since his arrival here in 1997 he exhibited in The Netherlands, Belgium and Poland.
He was someone you loved immediately. He was a presence, with an open heart and an open mind. His humor was beyond words. With an artists'eye he commented in one short remark on ordinary things, turning them upside down into a different perspective. Despite the history of Iraq that burdened him so heavily, he was always a pure, sincere and forgiving man. The past three years I enjoyed his presence and hospitality almost weekly and many hours were spent in pure joy and warmth. His loving presence, his eyes, his laughter, his jokes and his always moving hands will be deeply, deeply missed by many.
About art and his work he spoke less the past years, but his work showed everything. It focussed on the struggle of man and machine, the warm vulnerability of the flesh and the cold cutting strength of metal using his own history as his material. In 2004 he initiated the Festival of Iraqi Arts in Amsterdam. His engaged work about the fragmentation of Iraq (without title, 2004) that he made after returning to Iraq was the centre piece in the exhibition. It speaks about the fragmentation of a people that share the same history (reflected in brown, rusty colours)but become divided by ideologie.
