Shafaq To shed more light on the plastic art and the artists specially women we visited the Fine Arts Institute in Khanaqin as guests of the  woman artist Ibtihal Taofiq…

and we had the following dialogue with her :

Q- We notice a lot of interest in flowers in your works , what is there behind that ?

- I consider flowers as the most beautiful creatures nature had contrived and they resemble women because flowers resemble nature beauty and nature for me is life itself.

Q-Would you tell us about the beginning of your trip with the plastic art and drawing ?

- I  loved drawing in my childhood and  at the beginning I used to draw things and home utensils and furniture . Then I began to draw human faces who used to visit us as guests . When father noticed the strength of my interest in drawing , he encouraged me to continue .

Q- The artist who had the greatest influence on the artistic school you had adopted ?

- I have my own style and I use paintbrush , knife and the other basic drawing  requirements . I was not influenced by other artists directly but I like Muhammad Mahruddin , Sirwan Baran and Samir Dawood Alsudani works .

Q- We see the influence of the impressionism school on your works  , What is the extent of this influence?

- To some extent , I was influenced by that school but I am moving in my recent works towards the abstract impressionism and perhaps I pursue other schools in future .

Interviewed by  Majid Alsura mari