Latif Al Ani: New Baghdad Apr 4–May 6, 2016
400 Level, Avery Hall GSAPP, Columbia University M–F 9–5pm
Latif Al Ani trained as a photographer in the 1950s working for the Iraq Petroleum Company magazines, "People of Oil" and "IPC." By 1960 he had founded the department of photography at the Iraqi Ministry of Information, where, for the magazine "New Iraq," he was tasked with documenting the agriculture, industry and working life of the country after its 1958 revolution. Recognized early as an important photographer in Iraq, he was also visible internationally, with exhibitions in the United States in 1963, and in East Berlin in 1965. As with other Iraqi artists, cultural figures, and intellectuals of this period, Al Ani’s work chronicled newly emerging urban conditions under the shifting political regimes of the 1950s to the 1980s, while also attempting to record the last vestiges of the region’s pre-colonial and pre-modern history. Although the majority of Al Ani’s work archives were destroyed or dismantled in 2003 when the Ministry of Culture was looted, some of his personal photography collection has survived. The photographs on view are printed from negatives held by the Arab Image Foundation. Accompanying the exhibition of works by Iraqi architect Rifat Chadirji in the Arthur Ross Architecture Gallery, these photographs document Baghdad’s urban transformation during the same period that Chadirji was active. Chadirji’s Monument of the 14th of July Revolution, his Monument for the Unknown Soldier, his Abboud Building on Rasheed Street, and his Federation of Industries Building appear as the subjects, or as the background extras, within Al Ani’s aerial and street level surveys of Baghdad modernization.
All photographs appear courtesy of Latif Al Ani and the Arab Image Foundation.
01. Housing project, Mamoun district, Baghdad, 1962. 02. Parliament of Iraq by plane, Baghdad, 1960. 03. Central Train Station, Baghdad, 1959. 04. General view of the Central Train Station, Baghdad, 1961. 05. Roundabout in Baghdad, 1960. 06. Ziggurat at Agargouf as seen from a plane, 30 km West of Baghdad, 1960. 07. Taq Kisra, the Arch of Ctesiphon as seen from a plane, 35 km South of Baghdad, 1960.
20. Street in Baghdad, undated. 21. Street in Baghdad, undated. 22. Haydar-Khana Mosque, Rasheed Street, Baghdad, undated. 23. The Rafidain Bank, Baghdad, 1959. 24. The Rafidain Bank, Baghdad, 1959. 25. The Rafidain Bank, Baghdad, 1959. 26. Shorja Street, Baghdad, 1960. 27. Rasheed Street, Baghdad, 1960. [Abboud building by Rifat Chadirji] 28. Merjan mosque and a business center, Rasheed Street, Baghdad, 1959.
08. Malwiya Minaret, The Great Mosque of Samarra, undated.
29. Merjan Mosque, Rasheed Street, Baghdad, 1959.
09. View of Tigris River, Baghdad, 1962.
30. Tahrir Square, Baghdad, undated.
10. Shoada bridge in the back of AlKarkh, Baghdad, 1961.
31. Tahrir square, Baghdad, undated.
11. Hospital Medinat Saddam, Baghdad, 1960.
32. Tahrir square, Baghdad, 1962. [Monument of the 14th of July Revolution by Rifat Chadirji]
12. Al Buniyah Mosque, Baghdad, 1950.
33. Tahrir square, Baghdad, undated.
13. Picnic with family 40 km North of Baghdad, 1969.
34. National Museum of Iraq, undated.
14. Mosque Imam Musa al-Kadhim, Baghdad, undated. 15. Mosque Imam Musa al-Kadhim, Baghdad, undated. 16. Mosque Imam Musa al-Kadhim, Baghdad, undated. 17. Fire in Kalani Oil Containers in July, Baghdad, undated. 18. Abu Hanifa Mosque, Baghdad, 1960. 19. Tower clock in Adhamiya district as seen from a plane, Baghdad, 1960.
35. Hospital Medinat Saddam, Baghdad, undated. 36. The Rafidain Bank, Rasheed Street, Baghdad, undated. 37. The Rafidain Bank, Rasheed Street, Baghdad, undated. 38. Al Khulani Square, Baghdad, undated. [Federation of Industries building by Rifat Chadirji on the left side] 39. Firdos Square, undated. [Unknown Soldier Monument by Rifat Chadirji] 40. Firdos Square, undated.
Curated by Florencia Alvarez, Adam Bandler, Mark Wasiuta M.Arch Exhibitions Assistants: Becca Book, Grete Grubelich CCCP Exhibitions Assistant: Tania Tovar Torres M.Arch Exhibitions Crew: Valentina Flora Dean Cortez, Jiangyu Chen, Andrea Ayleen Hajj, Eugene Sen Chun Ong, Edward Joseph Andriani Putri, Miranda Shugars, Ilijana White, Haochang Yu, Evelyn Zhang
Angelucci, Cameron Chiney, Charles Palka, Angelina Soldan, Zachary Ross
CCCP Exhibitions Crew: Pedro Ceñal Murga, Rosana Elkhatib, Ruishi Ge, Joachim Hackl, Robin Hartanto, Chi-Chia Hou, Sara McGillivray, Iara Pimenta Graphic Design: MTWTF Produced by GSAPP Exhibitions