About
Mohammed Al-Shammarey was born in Baghdad, Iraq, in 1962 and currently lives and works in Houston, Texas. He is a self-taught artist; he works with painting, photography, silk-screen printing, sculpture, and book art (dafatir). He has held many solo exhibitions, including shows held at his atelier in Baghdad (1988, 1991 and 1999); French Cultural Centre, Baghdad, and Al-Balqa Open Gallery, Fuheis, Jordan (1998); Orfali Gallery, Amman, Jordan (2002); Dar Al-Anda Gallery, Amman (2004); Rain Song, Juniata College Museum of Art, Huntingdon, PA, and FA Gallery, Kuwait City, Kuwait (2010); and Word, Object, Motion (with Simeen Farhat), Anya Tish Gallery, Houston, TX (2010). He has also participated in group exhibitions such as Word into Art, British Museum, London, UK (2006); Dafatir: Contemporary Iraqi Book Art, University of North Texas, Denton, TX, travelling exhibition, (2005–2008); Iraqi Artists in Exile, Station Museum of Contemporary Art, Houston, TX (2008); and Modernism and Iraq, Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University, New York, NY (2009). Al-Shammarey’s work is often inspired by literature and poetry, particularly the writings of Rumi, Mahmoud Darwish, and the Epic of Gilgamesh.