Fatima Barznge (Iraq, Kurdistan) lives in Rotterdam NL
Her work deals with themes of connection, tolerance, memory, symbolism of form, environment and transformation. She explores how to combine historical, Islamic and Kurdish elements with the concepts of Western abstraction and transform them into an autonomous visual language, to bring different cultures closer together, to greet and inspire each other. In her works she revisits the places, objects and atmospheres of a birthplace, cultural world and childhood to which return is impossible. Barznge grew up in Aghjalar, a rural village in Iraqi Kurdistan completely destroyed in 1988 in the Anfal war campaign, soon after the family’s departure. She studied business administration in Baghdad and in 1997 fled for political reasons and settled in the Netherlands where she graduated cum laude from the Royal Academy of Art (The Hague) in 2005. She has several ongoing projects, and each project consists of several series. Each work can be shown alone, but she also often shows it in the form of a group or wall display/direct collage on the wall. This approach aims to bring together different techniques, colours, shapes and formats.
Fatima’s work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions including Stedelijke museum Schiedam NL (2024, 2022, 2020); Kultur Museum Bern Switzerland (2024); V/MSP gallery Brussels Belgium (2023, solo); Ursula Walter gallery Dresden Germany (solo, 2023); Buitenplaats Doornburgh NL (2023); Rozenstraat- a rose is a rose, Amsterdam NL (2021); Museum De Buitenplaats Eelde NL (2019); TENT platform for contemporary art Rotterdam NL (2015, 2011) and regularly at Sanaa gallery Utrecht NL. Her work is in various permanent collections including; Dutch government collection; Stedelijk museum Schiedam NL, Verhalenhuis Belvédère NL and various private collections in the Netherlands, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Iraq, Belgium.
Fatima’s work is made possible by Mondriaan Fund, 2022- 2026