Walid Siti (Iraq, born 1954) Expressions oil on paper, framed signed and dated '1996', executed in 1996 55 x 55cm (21 5/8 x 21 5/8in). Footnotes: Provenance: Property from the collection of the renowned Iraqi architect Mohammed Saleh Makiya (1914-2015) Thence by descent to the present owner Walid Siti graduated from the Institute of Fine Arts in Baghdad in 1976, and in 1982 from the Academy of Fine Arts, Ljubljana, Slovenia, with a BA and MA in Printmaking. He moved to London in 1984 and has since focused on painting. He has exhibited extensively in the UK and internationally, in Slovenia, Poland, Russia, Austria, Denmark, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Taiwan, and the United Arab Emirates. The symbolic role of natural landscapes and constructed landmarks to collective memory is central to the work of esteemed Iraqi artist Walid Siti. Referencing the ancient citadel of Erbil with rudimentary symbols of Kurdish folklore such as mountains and rivers, Siti explores the relationship between the ancient and contemporary, the innate and the living, the eternal and the changeable. Using painting, drawing, printmaking and installation, Siti investigates aspects of collective memory with the individual experience amid changing socio-political realities. Walid's work is in the public collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The British Museum, The Imperial War Museum, and Victoria & Albert Museum in London; The National Gallery of Amman, Jordan; The World Bank and The Iraq Memory Foundation, both in Washington DC; Barjeel Art Foundation, UAE. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com