Kawliya 1

Artist Hayv Kahraman Iraqi, born 1981, active United States since 2006

Date2014

MediumOil on linen

Dimensions96 x 48 in. (243.8 x 121.9 cm)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the bequest of Fannie and Alan Leslie, by exchange

Object number2014.11

On View

Not on view

Label TextThe artist references various influences in this portrait. The woman’s dark, thick hair reveals Kahraman’s fascination with the portrayal of women in Japanese scroll painting; her unnaturally long neck reflects Italian Renaissance masterpieces; and ornate textile patterns show the artist’s familiarity with Persian miniature paintings.

Kahraman’s personal history informs her hybrid artistic style. Her family fled to Sweden from Iraq in 1992. She eventually moved to Italy before settling in the US. “The merging of cultures in my art is a search for identity. I have never had a home,” she says. Her artwork, then, is a selfportrait: a mixed-up person making herself whole by borrowing from others.
[L. Dougherty, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," 2022]ProvenanceCreated Los Angeles, 2014; collection of the artist; [Jack Shainman Gallery, New York]; sold to NCMA, 2014.
Exhibition HistoryNew York, NY, Frieze Art Fair, May 9–12, 2014.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," October 7, 2022–July 29, 2025. Object Rights Statement

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