Coma in Paradise boldly addresses the artist’s acute concern for personal and political freedoms in societies around the world, particularly in the Middle East, and continues Al Karim’s explorations on themes of politics, gender, fear, love, violence and the power of memory and its ability to recall the good and render the bad obsolete.

Forced to flee Iraq in 1991 for political reasons, Al Karim’s artistic practice is largely influenced by years of hiding, persecution and violence that he suffered during the Gulf War. By manipulating his subjects to create striking blurred portraits, implying an uncertainty of context, time and place, Al Karim prompts the viewer to consider realities beyond the physical appearance of the body.These techniques are used by the artist as means to overcome the effects of politics of deception and, in turn, transform the artist and the camera into a single entity; one seeking a greater truth. The artist uses a hand-made, analogue camera.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Halim Al Karim was born in 1963 in Nafjat, Iraq. He currently lives and works in Denver, United States and Dubai, UAE. In 2011, Halim was selected to represent Iraq at the Venice Biennale. His works have been exhibited in the Saatchi Gallery, London, UK;The Museum of Contemporary Art ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany; the XVA Gallery, Dubai, UAE: the Paul Klee Museum, Bern, Switzerland; and the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Boulder, Colorado. His artwork is also part of numerous public collections including the Saatchi Gallery, London, the Victoria and Albert Museum, UK, the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum,Texas, USA,The Royal Society of Fine Arts in Jordan, the Arabic Museum of Modern Art in Doha, Qatar and the Institut du Monde Arabe (IMA), in Paris, France, among others.