Farouk Kaspaules is an Iraqi-born Canadian artist of Assyrian origin, [1] noted for his engravings and silk-screen photography.
Born in Baghdad, Kaspaules left Iraq in the mid-1970s for political reasons. [2] After a brief stay in the United States, he chose Canada as his country of exile and settled in Ottawa. [3] He received his art education at the University of Ottawa, graduating in 1989 with Bachelor degrees in Fine Arts and Art History. [4]
He has contributed to the arts community in Canada through his active involvement in artist-run centres and community organizations.
He mixes traditional Arabic iconography with modern symbols to produce works that reflect themes of exile, cultural displacement and related social issues. [5]
Kaspaules works in oils and mixed media. [6] He also executes engravings and silk-screen photography. [7]
During his first European exhibition in London, England, in 1993, he established links with other exiled artists from the Middle East, specifically from Iraq. These encounters led to a turning point in his artistic production, which became more politically explicit.
In 2001, Kaspaules's installation …and at night we leave our dreams on window sill, memory of a place (2000) was included in the major exhibition The Lands within Me: Expressions by Canadian Artists of Arab Origin, which opened at the Canadian Museum of History soon after the September 11 attacks. [8]
In 2016, Kaspaule exhibited works in There’s Room: Ottawa Artists Respond to the Refugee Crisis, held at Gallery 101. [9]
Kaspaules has participated in some 20 solo and collective exhibitions in Canada, England, Hungary, France, Chile and Brazil. [10]