Rushdi Anwar

The Invisible Line - he prays in Iraq, his shoes in Iran, both are in Kurdistan

The Invisible Line – he prays in Iraq, his shoes in Iran, both are in Kurdistan by Rushdi Anwar is part of the series A Hope and Peace to End All Hope and Peace (2023 – ongoing). Through its materiality, the work reflects on the colonial borders that produced what we call today Iraq and Iran; in the northern regions rests the historically known territory of Kurdistan, whose stateless communities today live divided by a man-made, stone-lined stream. Kurdistan is a geographic region encompassing today’s eastern Turkey, northern Iraq, western Iran, and smaller parts of northern Syria and Armenia. In this black and white image, a Kurdish man in traditional clothing prays on a stone wall in a mountain village near Byara in the Hawraman region. He stands barefoot in Iraq, while his shoes are across a stream in Iran. The stone wall, built by local Kurdish farmers in the 1800s for irrigation, later became a border marker due to the 1975 ‘Treaty of Algeria,’ dividing families. For Rushdi, it evokes memories of family picnics and the separation caused by the Iran-Iraq war. Today, it’s a vital farming tool and a popular tourist spot, uniting Iraqi and Iranian visitors who see both sides as Kurdistan. Anwar’s work addresses colonial borders from an aesthetic perspective, allowing him to conjure alternative roadmaps to repair and rethink how the former has dispossessed and displaced entire communities struggling to foster a sense of collective identity.