This painting was a present from my father Sadig Al-Ali, who left Iraq in 1958 and has been living in Germany ever since. This is how my father got the painting:

When my parents visited Iraq in 1994, they went to visit a museum with old archives in one of the few remaining old houses in Baghdad. My parents were talking in German when an elderly man interrupted them and addressed them in German, explaining that he had spent 10 years in Germany studying art. As it turned out, he had studied with the famous German expressionist Ludwig Kirchner in Munich. After a few minutes of conversation, my father suddenly remembered why this person's face looked so familiar: this was Mr Rasul Alwan Haidar, his art teacher when he was a student in Al-Karkh Grammar School in Baghdad in the 50s. The old man invited my parents to his modest home, full of books and paintings but without much furniture as he had to sell most of it during the first years of economic sanctions. My father wanted to help Mr Alwan Haidar out with some money, but knew that pride would not allow his former teacher to accept it. So he asked his old teacher if he could donate some money to Iraqi artists. Mr Haidar agreed on the condition that my parents would choose one of his paintings. They did, and, knowing that I would appreciate it, gave it to me.

I love this painting, not only because of the bright colours and sense of movement, but also because it turns around stereotypical perceptions of women and gender relations in Iraq. Although most of the women in the painting wear the traditional habay, they seem to move with ease through the streets of Baghdad, holding hands with their loved ones and even kissing in public.