Ahmed Al Safi , was born in Al Diwaniyah

Al Diwaniyah

Al Diwaniyah is the capital city of Iraq's Al-Qādisiyyah Governorate. In 2002, its population was estimated at 440,927. The area around Al Diwaniyah, which is well irrigated from the nearby Euphrates river, is often considered to be one on the most fertile parts of Iraq, and is heavily cultivated...

, Iraq

Iraq

Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

 in 1971.

Al Safi studied sculpture at the Fine Arts Academy in Baghdad

Baghdad

Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...

.
He won the Ismail Fatah Al Turk

Ismail Fatah Al Turk

Ismail Fatah Al-Turk was an Iraqi painter and sculptor from Basra, Iraq.He received degrees in painting and sculpture from the Baghdad Institute of Fine Arts and a degree in sculpture from the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome....

 Prize for young sculptors in 2000.

Al Safi's art reflects the concerns of a generation of Iraqi artists in the 1990s who were living through a time of international embargo and homeland dictatorship. Throughout the period of the embargo , Al Safi made sculptures and paintings in his Baghdad studio, his work collected by foreign diplomats and other visitors from the West, as well as collectors from the Middle East

Middle East

The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

.

Known for his attenuated figures cast in bronze, Al Safi's representations of men strive to fly, leap or balance on precarious perches, perhaps reflecting the complex moral balancing act required of so many Iraqis during Saddam Hussein

Saddam Hussein

Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...

's murderous reign. His work also uses themes from ancient Mesopotamian culture, including agrarian and fishing motifs http://www.artnet.com/Magazine/features/mumford/mumford7-12-04.asp.
Since 2005 Al Safi has been living in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

.

External links

• AlSafiArt
• Saatchi Gallery
• Baghdad Journal - Artnet.com
• Mumford, Steve. "Baghdad Journal", artnet, July 12, 2004. Accessed May 19, 2008.