Ark Re-imagined for Sustainable Development

As part of the ‘life in the Ark’, the project explores the Izar tradition: embroidered rugs (or marriage blankets) of southern Iraq, the iconography of which can be traced from ancient times, for example in painted ceramics and cylinder seals from the Ubaid period onward.
Rashad works to research, document and revive this vernacular art form in partnership with KBAFA, a women’s organisation with a mission to improve the situation of widows, divorcees and other marginalised women, of whom there are many, following decades of conflict and social upheaval. Some have suffered severe trauma and the artistic practice of Izar making serves as a form of therapeutic
engagement as well as a way to develop an independent livelihood.