Artbahrain: Can you tell us about your recent show “Lord of the Earth”?

Modhir Ahmed: The show in Boras was a continuation of my retrospective exhibition that opened in Dalarnas museum last January. Part of the plan was to show recent works of 2D transformed to 3D using objects, found art.  I chose the shovel as symbol of the earth, to dig the ground where water and plants sprout, the source of life and Boras was actually the beginning of my life in Sweden – my very first friends, my first job and my first home, where my son was born.

Modhir Ahmed. Lord of the Earth, 2012.
Photo by Thomas Dalarud

AB: Lord of the Earth is Iraqi mythology; does your show have something to do with Iraq?
MA: Yes and other countries too. Critical issues had to be brought to light, for example the effects of depleted uranium on humans and on the earth. Thus, Enki came to mind, the Lord of the Earth. The gods settled in Sumeria and began civilization, and the shovel was a tool to dig in order to cultivate the earth or bury under the earth.

AB: What inspired you to use your art and creativity as a personal response to these issues?
MA: The things happening worldwide – the environment, political unrest, like how they want to change their country and made it even worst – made me think of how art can be used to inform and challenge the viewer and how it can be used to rattle people into seeing the world for what it really is with what mankind is doing.

AB: What do you wish that people would take from your show?
MA: Art approaches people in many different ways so I had to do the show in three parts in hope that when they look at how my work evolved in three days, it will trigger something inside of them and forces them to wake up.

AB: Why in three parts?
MA: It’s not just an exhibition but a “happening.” I wanted people to witness the evolution of my work as a metaphor of the things that are happening in the world.

AB: What conversations should this show initiate?
MA: I would like my show to ignite any conversation that makes people understand something that they previously didn’t.

AB: So tell us about part two, where did that come from?
MA: Part II was about art appreciation. Three days after the opening the viewers were invited back to witness the transformation of the artwork. They were shocked to see the artworks covered with black paint and as I promised, they would have the title, one word written in white on the paintings they saw the other day which are just memories in photographs. It had a disorienting effect some were confused because it was not part of the curatorial statement, collectors were broken hearted because I should have sold them and other outraged because I defaced the artworks. Then the media and people demanded an explanation. Their reaction was preconditioned based on the first viewing which acknowledges the fact that contemporary existence is a process of consumption and it makes it hard for people to ignore what makes them uncomfortable.

AB: The titles are they cryptic messages, can you sum up that message you feel you have to express?
MA: The titles are not cryptic messages; I made them up based on the images that were under the black paint. If the viewers did not see the previous paintings and only saw the black with titles, they would have accepted it as it is.  Part III is about the value of art.  On the last day of the exhibition, I cut all of the artworks into pieces and tore some canvases on the wall where the shadow played tricks which resulted in the beginning and the end of an all new exhibition. 

This show is also about looking into the future, it is a window to see and transform our behavior towards the alarming global development which seems to be a destruction that is free-for-all.  Nature and politics as in art is created, polluted, disfigured, destroyed and chopped, buried – to result in a new life. Through these stages of the exhibition, I seek to inspire people to strive for change in the way they relate to the once beautiful and safe and to recognise the role that all of us play in the destruction of our planet and life on earth.

AB: What was the public reaction?
MA: After the news was aired on the radio and published all over Sweden, I received positive feedbacks from art institutions wanting me to do lectures and environmental groups that needs support in visual art.  And the negative side, buyers wanting to buy a piece from part I couldn’t because part II and III would be the whole project and questions like why I had to destroy my art. But it’s ok, one day they will come to understand.

AB: Why didn’t you just do activist paintings rather than have all three different evolution?
MA: Every artist has their way of expressing what is in their mind; I wanted the people to not only view the art but to really see and experience what is “before and after” because it is not only about art, but of life too.

AB: What was the risk for you in putting this exhibition together and dedicating it to a positive cause?
MA: It’s completely financial. But I have faith and had to act on what I believe in. As an artist, it is actually completely liberating when not thinking of money when creating works for a show.  Any artist who has had any success with their art knows that at some point it was all about creating, just expressing, and it brings us back to a place we hadn’t been since we started making shows– when it wasn’t about anything other than making something beautiful and getting viewers to appreciate it.

AB: How much did this project cost? How will you sell it?
MA: This is a ‘happening’ project rather than a selling exhibition. We documented (photos/videos) the complete three part installation, opening, destruction (if you want to call it that) and audience comments. What was left of the artworks after the show is intact and I am looking at showing them with the rest of the documentation elsewhere.

AB: Do you see opportunities in the Swedish community – the art and environment community – to work on pressing global issues that may create any lasting change?
MA:  Oh yes as I said earlier, I have already been contacted by art and environment groups and I hope Iraqis will do the same too. Not just talking about it or dreaming about it, but doing it.  When we will all join hands and focus on one issue at a time, we will generate tons of energy and there are absolutely ways.

AB: How does this exhibition fit into your traveling retrospective?
MA: It’s an evolution, a more contained statement.

AB: What other projects are you working on and where would you like to see them presented?
MA: Honestly, I would love to be able to present Lord of the Earth again – the films, photos and the final pieces of the project.  I would love to take that show, perhaps combined with the 35 years retrospective collection, on tour or simply exhibit them elsewhere. I do have future projects in mind but I need to focus on the development of this project. Because art has the power to inspire and empower people to take a step in order to create change in something they believe in especially when the desired goal is to help transform the world for the better.