Rushdi Anwar is among 31 finalists for SAAP 2020, currently exhibiting in Hong Kong's K11 HACC venue until July 19th. While this year's winner is yet to be announced, all works are available to view and purchase by online auction. Profits will be split evenly between the artists and charitable programmes for disadvantaged children in Asia, and Rushdi's entry Placeless Burden; Towards Uncertainty is listed here.
"I took this photograph when a woman had received food aid inside one of the refugee camp.
I worked inside several refugee camps in Kurdistan/Iraq for four months. Since the current regional conflict began, approximately 1.8 million refugees have fled to Iraq’s Kurdistan region. I encountered refugees from a diversity of backgrounds (e.g. Yazidi, Christiane, Shabak, Sunni Muslim, Kurds, Arabs, Turckoman and Syrian and other minorities).
I aim to draw attention to the commonality of displacement and the daily living conditions of the refugees inside the camps. This work evokes issues of displacement due to socio-political persecution during the current war against ISIS and post-ISIS, aiming to reveal the difficulties and suffering of individuals who have faced displacement.
The work address the catastrophe and the difficult reality of those individuals forced into displacement, invoking the idea of “Home” fragments. Parts that are absent and lost, or left behind somewhere, signify both loss of home and the triumph of memory. They highlight the desperation and fragility of displaced individuals." - Rushdi Anwar