Dalila Azzi: How do you choose the medium you will work on?
Bilal Bahir: I am looking for old documents from all over the world—all the books, all the documents with history—and I store them until they call me. An old paper has a history and a soul. My relationship with old books began when I paid tribute to the history of the House of Wisdom in Baghdad. I created a work on the Baghdad siege of 1258, when Hulagu Khan destroyed the House of Wisdom, the main library in the leading intellectual center of the Arab world. Founded in the eighth century, it contained countless valuable documents accumulated over five hundred years. Many books were thrown into the Tigris River, and its waters ran black with ink. In one week, libraries and their treasures accumulated over hundreds of years were burned or otherwise destroyed. According to a writer, there were so many books that they formed a bridge that could carry a man on a horse. That is how I began to work on printed documents.
D.A: You say that your exhibition is inspired by the poetry of the mystic philosopher Jalal Eddine Rumi, how do you express this in your work?
Bilal Bahir: I write his poetry between my drawings and add a sentence to create a balance between image and text. It is a need of my soul, and sometimes the unconscious plays a very important role. I translate his poetry by drawing: "Somewhere beyond good and evil, there is a garden." "I'll join you there." This poetry inspired me to create a magic carpet that refers to Persian mythology. As stated in a legend, King Solomon possessed a flying carpet, which according to some people was given to him by the Queen of Sheba, and that refers to the Garden of Eden.
D.A: On some of your works, there are inscriptions in Arabic, don't you think that for the non-Arabic speaking public, a part of your work remains unexplained?
Bilal Bahir: My drawings are a universal language; even if we don't understand the text, the picture will give an answer. And sometimes, if we don't understand it, it remains mysterious. Calligraphy brings another dimension, regardless of language.
D.A: There is an undeniable link between writing and painting in your artwork, are your drawings a reinterpretation of the texts you work on?
Bilal Bahir: For me, there is no drawing without text, just as there is a picture and a text in a journal, the link between them is inseparable. I try to keep a balance between the two; sometimes it depends on the subject of the drawings and the project. One of my recent works was a series. I drew it up from the book of La Fontaine’s Fables, and I redrew the ancient drawing of Kalila and Demna in a way to show where the Fables come from.
D.A: You overturn academic canons through the themes of your productions and your syncretic and hybrid artistic representations, what are your sources of inspiration?
Bilal Bahir: I have no limits (I draw like a child) outside the scope of complexity. I am inspired by the Dada school, which emerged after World War I as a kind of anti-war movement. For me, there is a historical connection, especially in Iraq, which went through many wars. My second inspiration is the Old Persian drawings, surrealism, and poetry of Charles Bukowski and Baudelaire.
D.A: This exhibition is a journey between East and West, what is your next artistic adventure?
Bilal Bahir: Pick up my genie above my flying carpet and explore another part of the world.
©AYN Gallery
