RAFA AL-NASIRI
born in Tikrit, Iraq, 1940.
Rafa Al-Nasiri received a diploma in painting from the Institute of Fine Arts, Baghdad in 1959, a BA in printmaking from the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing in 1963, and a diploma in printmaking from The Gravura, Lisbon (Scholarship from The Gulbenkian Foundation) in 1969. He has derived much of his inspiration from the work of Chinese artists, such as the printmaking styles of Li Hua and the ink paintings of Qi Baishi and Huang Yong Yu. Rafa taught painting and graphic art and design in Iraq, Jordan, and in Bahrain from 1964 to 2003, in addition to lecturing on art in different Arab and world capitals. In 1997, he published a book entitled Contemporary Graphic Art. He has held a large number of individual exhibitions from 1963 to the present in Hong Kong, Baghdad, Kuwait, Beirut, Casablanca, Paris, Beijing, Amman, Sharja, Manama, and Kampen. From 1965 to 2003, he has taken part in international exhibitions held in Germany, Belgium, Yugoslavia, Poland, United Kingdom, Norway, India, Brazil, France, South Korea, Egypt, and Switzerland. Living in exile since 1991, he is now a full-time artist residing in Amman, Jordan.