Shakir’s style is so skillful in bringing out the hidden aspects of folklore and making it visually appealing. In taking what has been tucked away in the old Baghdad dwellings and bringing it out for all of us to see. In his paintings there is a quaint call, which we hear the more we gaze at his canvases.
Shakir’s artistic output, thus, opens the doors to a hidden world, with its own identity and idiosyncrasies, which he transforms into modern artistic visions with an aesthetic vocabulary that transcends time and place.
Translated by Dr Faris Nishewat