Skin III

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, Whitehall

Drawing on his experiences of living under Saddam Hussein's regime in Baghdad, and subsequently as a refugee in Sweden, Mohammed Sami's work explores themes of displacement and memory. 'Skin III' is part of an ongoing series that considers the degree of detachment between Sami and the events that the artist experienced in Iraq. On the one hand, the pile of rolled carpets occludes any depiction of conflict, while, on the other, these objects of merchant and nomadic traditions suggest not only a quick departure, but also a skin, both a source of protection and a layer to shed.

Born in Baghdad, Iraq, in 1984, Mohammed Sami now lives and works in London. Having completed studies in drawing and painting at the Institute of Fine Arts, Baghdad, he worked at the Ministry of Culture, Baghdad, before being granted asylum in Sweden in 2007. Sami graduated from Belfast School of Art in 2015, and earned an MFA at Goldsmiths’ College in 2018. Sami has his first institutional solo show in the UK at Camden Art Centre, London, in 2023 (touring to De La Warr Pavilion). His work has previously featured in numerous group exhibitions, including The London Open 2022 at Whitechapel Gallery, London (2022); Mixing It Up: Painting Today at Hayward Gallery, London (2021); Stilla Liv / Still Life, Galleri Magnus Karlsson, Gotland, Sweden (2020); Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts, Doha, Qatar (2018–19) and The Sea is the Limit, York Art Gallery, UK (2018); as well as The Culture Night of Norrköping City, Norrköping Art Museum, Sweden (2011). His paintings are held by a number of major collections, including the Arts Council Collection, London; Museum Bojmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam; Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Imperial War Museum, London; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; and Tate, London.

Places

Subjects

blood, domestic interior, carpet

Materials & Techniques

Artist

Mohammed Sami (1984 - )

Title

Skin III

Date

2020

Medium

acrylic on linen

Dimensions

height: 225.0 cm; width: 285.0 cm; depth: 6.0 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from VO Curations, August 2021

Provenance

The artist via VO Curations; from whom purchased by UK Government Art Collection, 2 August 2021

GAC number

19017