Harem Tahir
Harem is a Kurdish-Iraqi artist living in Vancouver, BC, Canada. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts from the University of Sulaymaniyah in Kurdistan. He completed the Master Teacher Trainer Program
at Birmingham College in Erbil, Kurdistan, he worked as a teacher in the Educational Development Institute of Kurdistan.
He is a distinct member of Kurdistan's art syndicate. He has showcased his original work in over 40 exhibitions, including eight solo shows. Additionally, some of his works were published in multiple books and magazines, and his work has been studied for a few master's theses at the College of Fine Art. He is currently partnered with the Songs of Hope project in the USA, collaborating with musicians worldwide combining visual art and music. Also, he is participating in the project 'The Stories from Camp' in Italy.
Harem was born in Kurdistan/Iraq. When Harem was a child, his town was attacked with chemical weapons, and over 5,000 people were killed in a few hours. His family fled to the relative safety of Iran, and that was not the first and last time they left their home to seek a safe place. They spent over eight years in the refugee camp. Father, mother, and siblings had been working in the farm and brick factory, and they had to return to the camp in the late evening. At age nine, Harem also started working with his family in a brick factory, which was very hard.
At that time, when his mother told him the stories at night, he tried to turn them into drawings. Her stories were like cool water in Iraq's thirsty summer. Most of her stories were about what their home
country looked like and what had happened to them during the war. Even though her stories were sad, she finished the stories with hope and happiness. Every day, Harem was waiting for his mom to return
from work and feed him another story to make a new drawing about.
Whenever Harem thinks about his childhood, it is painful for him, and there was no joy in it, but he did not feel it when he was a child because his childhood began in the middle of the war, and He did not
know what joy and happiness should be like. War took his childhood, his toys. Therefore, he tried to entertain himself by drawing in the camp. At first, he tried simple pencil drawings because his
family had little money to buy art supplies. Then, he started studying in the camp's school. His teacher noticed his ability to draw, and one day, she gave him a set of colour pencils. That was the
happiest day for Harem because he couldn't buy it. He imagined he was a hero, and his colour pencils were his superpower. It encouraged him to make art and draw more and more.
Growing up in the camp himself, Harem was compelled to show in the only way he knew how the effects of war and displacement on children, especially since then, has been his work. His art represents the
disaster and misery that happened to happen around the world to anyone who faces it and has been a victim. No matter where they are from, what religion and colour they have. We are all human and from a small planet, and we all need life opportunities and rights. On the other hand, his work is about his life, the story of his childhood, and what we lost and may lose because of war, human
disaster, inequity and injustice, and not having safety and human rights. It's the story of all people who are seeking safety and have been victims, losing or leaving what they have and seeking a safe place
to continue life with all the stress and struggles they will face in this journey.
As his country was forced into war and a humanitarian crisis, Harem used his creativity to help himself and the people around him cope with the frightening new reality. He was extensively involved with organizations providing refugee humanitarian support and educational development for children, and he volunteered in several refugee camps in Iraq, helping kids heal through creative art activities.
Those children remind him of his childhood.
He is eager to show these works, to explain personally what life is like as a refugee. His paintings deal with people and children from war-torn places, children who have fled terrible experiences and been displaced from the normal lives everyone should be entitled to. They are paintings of children in camps and of his childhood memories in the Middle East.
Harem's subject matter is the plight of children who are displaced from countries ravaged by war. Many of his paintings deal with children from war-torn places, children who have fled terrible things and been displaced from the normal lives he feels everyone should be entitled to.
As Harem lives in Canada, he feels compelled to show what he has been through to exorcise all these thoughts. Through art, he tries to tell people what it is like firsthand to be displaced by war. Then, he
moves on...
