Dress Maker

Hayv Kahraman

Hayv Kahraman’s oil-on-linen paintings depict women in both peaceful repose and in unsettling contortions. Embracing material exploration, the Iraqi-born artist has sliced into her canvases, incorporated acoustic foam amid the linen, painted on wood, made sculpture, sketched, and choreographed performance. Kahraman draws on disparate influences including Renaissance painting, Persian miniature painting, Art Nouveau, and her own experience as a woman in the Iraqi diaspora. Kahraman studied at the Florence Academy of Fine Arts and Umeå University in Sweden. She has exhibited in New York, Los Angeles, London, Dubai, and beyond. Her work belongs to several collections including the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, the North Carolina Museum of Art, the Rubell Family Collection, the Barjeel Art Foundation in Sharjah, and the Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha.