Google Celebrates Iraqi Contemporary Art Genius Naziha Salim

Google is celebrating Iraqi art genius, Naziha Salim, with a doodle today. According to Google, on this day in 2020, the painting professor, described as "one of the most influential artists in the Iraqi contemporary art scene," was highlighted in the collection of female artists by the Berzier Arts Foundation.

Salim was born in 1927 in Istanbul, Turkey, to a family of Iraqi artists. Her father was a painter and her mother was an embroidery artist. She had three brothers, all of whom were involved in the arts. One of her brothers, Jawad Salim, is considered one of Iraq's most influential sculptors.

After spending several years abroad, she returned to Baghdad and taught at the Fine Arts Institute until she retired. Salim was also one of the founding members of Al-Ruwwad, an artist community that studied abroad and integrated arts and crafts into Iraqi aesthetics.

She is the author of "Iraq: Contemporary Art", which focuses on the early developments of Iraq's modern art movement. Her artwork is displayed in the Sharjah Museum and the Modern Art Iraqi Archive.