Mahmood Salim
About the Artist
Mahmood Salim, Helsinki (b. 1990) is a painter working with set designs, installations, and collages. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Iraq and won the main prize there in 2014. ISIS took over the city and forced him to destroy his works, threatening his life. He has reassembled himself from fragments, which he collects from the positive chips of language, letters and sounds. His art consists of understanding another culture and reflects the history of the past.
Exhibitions
BFA Exhibition 2025
12 September – 5 November 2025
Kuva/Tila
About the artwork
The wall is a memory from the time in Iraq, when ISIS forces destroyed my hometown of Mosul. When I returned there for the first time in eleven years last summer, I felt caught between two cultures.
In front of the wall is a wooden box with four paintings inside. The box refers to escape – packing and carrying things – but it is also the home of the paintings.