A Lasting Impression: Ismail Khayat

THIS 2019 PHOTO SHOWS THE ARTIST WITH HIS 1981 WORK, UNTITLED, AN OIL ON WOOD CANVAS, NOW OWNED BY BARJEEL ART FOUNDATION IN SHARJAH. PHOTOGRAPH BY JOEY L.

On February 10, 2020, Ismail Khayat slipped on some black ice outside his home in Sulaymaniyah, eastern Iraq and cracked his head on the pavement. The artist, who was 76, was rushed to hospital where he later fell into a coma, which he remains in to this day. His son, Hayas, now 27, had just graduated from university and wasn’t particularly well versed in his father’s prolific career as an artist, but after the accident, Hayas dedicated himself to archiving and documenting his father’s work and elevating his status in the region as one of the most important artists of his generation.

Born in 1944 in the city of Khanaqin, near the Iranian border, Ismail Khayat moved to Sulaymaniyah at the beginning of the 1960s. His parents often found him drawing on the walls or floors of his home. He was a natural artist and developed an instinctual practice. Despite having no formal training, he began a career as a teacher of the arts and made a notable impact on the art movement of the city. In several public schools in Sulaymaniyah, Khayat taught painting, drawing, performance and theatre, inspiring students. He was also a prolific producer of his own work, and eventually caught the eye of curators. He had many exhibitions of international acclaim, in Syria, Jordan, the US, France, Japan, Sweden, the Soviet Union and South Korea. After 24 years in public schools, he was promoted to plastic arts director in the Ministry of Culture for the Kurdistan Regional Government. In 2017 and 2018, Khayat served as the artist in residence at the American University of Iraq in Sulaymaniyah.

His work, over five decades, has been seminal in documenting the Kurdistan region both in terms of tradition and history as well as the rocky politics surrounding its bid for autonomy. This year, Khayat’s life and practice will be highlighted in a co-curated exhibition for the annual Lasting Impressions series, hosted by the Sharjah Museums Authority and held at the Sharjah Art Museum. Lasting Impressions shines a light on under-represented but important artists who have yet to have a large retrospective or solo show.

“As an institution, we have a clear mission. That is, that museums should be cultural destinations with education at the core,” says Alya Al Mulla, curator at Sharjah Art Museum. “Lasting Impressions is to inform people about these artists and their whole body of work. The agenda is as simple as that.”

Set to open on September 28, the exhibition will display his work in chronological and thematic sections. Khayat was an experimental artist who worked his way through a variety of media throughout his career. Primarily he was a painter, and one of his most famous periods was when he painted messages of peace upon large boulders in the Pirar region of Kurdistan during the 1990s civil war. Documentation of this will be on show in Sharjah as well as part of a series of almost 3,000 smaller stones and rocks that Khayat collected from his homeland and painted. Archival material will also reveal his pioneering attitude, such as choosing unconventional exhibition venues—once he showed work in a graveyard.

“He was very experimental for his time,” Hayas says. “He was an activist. He did so many exhibitions, and art was the only way that he could express himself. He was never without a paintbrush in his hand and he proved himself to everyone around him even though he didn’t study art.”

Khayat tackled sensitive subjects. He painted about women, disabled people, about war and suffering. He also painted masks, as metaphors for the toughened exterior humans are forced to adopt after undergoing difficult times. 

“Throughout the process of curating this exhibition, we strived to be as true to the artist and his practice as possible,” Al Mulla says. “In particular with this show, because of the unfortunate situation of the artist and his family, we wanted to ensure that the concepts and narratives of his art are properly conveyed as well as his dedication to his practice.”

Lasting Impressions: Ismail Khayat
at Sharjah Art Museum, September 28 to November 27.