The Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco (ICASF) is currently presenting Riverbend, Iraqi artist Maryam Yousif's first museum-based solo exhibition. The show is from October 25, 2024 – February 23, 2025. It brings together a collection of sculptures by Yousif inspired by the work of celebrated Iraqi modernist artist Jewad Selim (1919 - 1961) and the writings of the anonymous Iraqi blogger Riverbend. Riverbend was active from 2003 – 2007, reflecting on the United States’ occupation of the country during the Iraq War (2003 – 2011). The exhibition’s curator is Meghan Smith, assistant curator and communications manager, ICASF. Yousif joins STIR for an interview that sheds light on the connection between her own narrative and that of Riverbend and on how Selim’s work helped create that link.

Riverbend’s blog Baghdad Burning formed a compelling counter-narrative to American propaganda during the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Far from the barbaric image of the nation that most American media projected, Baghdad Burning offered readers a look at the richness of Iraqi cultural heritage through the blogger’s documentation of its festivals and cuisines. Her political views were central to her blog, and while Riverbend bitterly decried the occupation of her nation, she was no supporter of the political groups that sprung up as a byproduct of the war either. For example, she was a staunch critic of the Sadrist Movement, a populist Shi’ite national movement and political party that emerged immediately after the Saddam Hussein regime was toppled, and took an extreme stance against all western influences, even sports such as football.

“(this was) an image that came to mind as I read (Riverbend) telling of how the war affected date palm farmers, how the palms suffered, how the palm fronds were used to mark unidentifiable dead bodies on the streets of Baghdad. – Maryam Yousif, artist

Many in the United States believe the blog was written by a Westerner masquerading as an Iraqi because— as Yousif tells us— “she’s a sharp, intelligent (woman) and a critical thinker.” This disbelief in Riverbend’s intelligence is a by-product of the commonly-held Orientalist perspective in the United States. The American public’s view of parts of west and central Asia is heavily informed by the American media’s demonisation of the region, which has succeeded in manufacturing consent for the various military operations the United States has undertaken there.

Like Riverbend, Yousif too is concerned with the portrayal of the Iraqi people and their heritage. Her clay figures are a nod to ancient Mesopotamian relief sculptures. They remind us that the modern nation of Iraq, devastated by war, was once home to ‘the Cradle of Civilisation’, renowned for its art, science, and cultural innovations such as writing and agriculture. Yousif’s figures are women and stand as witnesses to all that has unfolded before them, in parallel to Riverbend.

Some of Yousif’s figures sit in cross-sections of traditional Baghdadi homes. Like her sculpture installation works, these often include wooden balconies with ornate carvings, known as the ‘shanasheel’ of the home. Selim’s modernist art inspired Yousif to represent these architectural features in her work; as she tells STIR, “[His] work was the visual marker that I used to try to weave together all the different points of interest. I saw a relief print of his that referenced...a cross section of an old Baghdadi home. This print shows these different segments of its architecture. The windows had women looking out, and the bottom courtyard segments had a tree, sculpture of a bull and a pot. I wanted to do the same thing.”

The collection of sculptures within the windows of Yousif’s art installation works reminds the artist of her nation’s culture: one piece depicts an Arabic tea kettle, which is an essential element of hospitality. Another has been fashioned after the ducks that can be observed in Sumerian artefacts. Yet, not all of Yousif’s sculptural elements are positive or nostalgic; for example,  a work that depicts a palm tree that has been cut into three sections. The artist tells STIR, “[This was] an image that came to mind as I read (Riverbend) telling of how the war affected date palm farmers, how the palms suffered, how the palm fronds were used to mark unidentifiable dead bodies on the streets of Baghdad.”

Riverbend is an important show that is made all the more compelling by the fact that the installation artist manages to present a subversive narrative without any overt visual marker of the American occupation. This body of work is all about the Iraqi people– their trauma, resilience and heritage. It is also about one Iraqi woman in particular, whose writing gave a generation of internet users a cause to question the propaganda that accompanied Iraq’s devastation. While the art exhibition in San Francisco carries none of the righteous anger that Baghdad Burning does, it perfectly captures the sense of hope and the desire for peace that shone through Riverbend’s writing.

In the anonymous blogger’s words, “I’ll meet you ‘round the bend my friend, where hearts can heal and souls can mend.”

'Riverbend' is on view from October 25, 2024 - February 23, 2025, at The Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco (ICASF).