Title: Art and Activism in Iraqi Kurdistan: Feminist Fault Lines, Body Politics and the Struggle for Space
Author: Isabel Käser
Houzan Mahmoud
Publisher: LSE Middle East Centre Paper Series | 70
Release date: 2023

The KRI is currently in a ‘would be’ state; a moment of transition, in which a better future hinges on the aspirations for an independent Kurdish state. In this context, a new generation of young artists and women’s activists have emerged in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), who through their work and artistic production address issues around body politics, (religious) conservatism and intimacy.

Particularly since 2014 and the onslaught of ISIS, violations and injustices are chronicled, and complaints are registered about the ways in which women’s bodies are being used as a battlefields. Rather than organised resistance against the ‘here and now’, in which many of the artists and activists feel stuck, the authors depict a more subtle shift: a gradual reimagining of space, body, and sexuality; projected into spaces where women are safe, autonomous, and equal. The authors argue that this is done by a new generation that is no longer convinced by partypolitics, women’s NGOs or foreign donor agendas, but is actively seeking to build alternative ways of engagement. These initiatives to date remain small, local, self-funded and transient, yet they mark a major shift towards a diversification of spaces for critical engagement.[1]