Shafaq News
Biography

Born in (1958) Mandili - Diayala
Lives and works in Baghdad - Iraq Diploma of the Institute of Fine Arts - Baghdad.
Bachelor Academy of Fine Arts - Graphic Design specialization - Baghdad.
Activities
Writer, designer, and a free painter, and books painter and caricaturist .His works were displayed in ten personal galleries (drawings for books and kids journalism, caricature, free painting ) held in Iraq, Jordan, Netherlands, Tunisia, Britain, and he had  participations in festivals and galleries in the Arab and European countries, . His works of art are distributed to Arab and European museums, art centers, and personal collections.
He has worked in children press, since (1975) and in drawings setting for more than 40 books for children issued by the publishing houses in Baghdad (House of children culture) and publishers in Kurdistan  Iraq, and (Dar Al-Arab child) in Cairo, and (House of Arts) and ( Dar Al-Nawras) in Beirut, and (Publications of Almazghani) in Tunisia.

He painted for magazines and newspapers ( My magazine and Pipe ) and (Nih Sterah - star) in Baghdad, and (Ha Nick) in Erbil, and (Small Arab) in Kuwait, and ( Majid) in Abu Dhabi.
He transferred his activity to the press of adults (1983) .He drew caricature, and held a number of galleries and participated in local and international galleries, and his portraits have been spread through the publishing  in newspapers in Iraq and the Arab countries.
In the nineties he published the caricature  in the London magazines (The New and the Magazine), before moving to work in the International newspaper (Middle East) in London (1999-2003).
After the fall of the regime in Baghdad (2003)  ,he resigned from the newspaper, and returned to Baghdad where he stayed and established a cultural project named (Media) . He held a number of galleries  and activities on its hall.
He worked as a consultant to the Culture of Children in the Ministry of Culture - Kurdistan Region (2005 - 2006) during which he organized in the summer  of(2006) The First global Festival for Kurdish children in the capital of the Region Erbil .
He founded the (artists against repression) gathering in London.
He was a founding member of the (convoy) International group - Tunisia.
He was a founding member of the Corporation (the Mesopotamia culture friends) - Netherlands.
Member of the Iraqi Journalists Union and  the Society of Iraqi artists.

* If Iraqi caricature  began with " Habaz Booz" where is it heading today?
The Iraqi caricature started with the first magazine Habaz Booz in 1931 and the bitter paradox was that  its editor in chief  was subjected to an assassination from which he  survived miraculously several days before its first issuance.  This brings us to what we are witnessing today of real dangers looming on every jealous patriotic practicing  the profession of journalism, and the profession of caricature, in particular, which I believe, is the spearhead in the profession of looking  for trouble. For us we have in the late Mua'yyed Ni'ma a shining example of the immense expressive power, and the superior ability of detection and analysis, and grabbing  the paradox, though it is black from the vast amount of intimidation, and loss, and, destruction, and tragic crimes suffered by the Iraqi people during the recent years of the tunnel of the change it entered , which was one of the reasons of failure, of the experience of Iraqi politicians, who proved deficient, and they failed miserably in crisis management, planning, and government performance. They have a clear lack of truly patriotism , with the exception of the brothers in Kurdistan Region.
*Some critics say that the caricature is not  a spoken criticism ...so could the Iraqi caricaturists practice their criticism role as their counterparts do in other countries?

Who said that the caricature art is not spoken . I think that caricature art is the loudest and most influential and effective of the visual arts, and for us we have in the drawings of the Palestinian Naji Al-ali, who was assassinated  in London a prime example of this, as well as the Syrian artist "Ali Farzat " who was subjected to kidnapping and beating because of his bold drawings posted on the websites as an example of the high voice of caricature and the depth of its impact, and how it creates the storms, that takes off the hearts of kings and sultans of our bad time. In fact  , they played their role, very effectively. We  have another example . that is the  return of the Iraqi caricature dean the  artist Bassam Faraj to the caricature  battlefield through his work in the Baghdadi daily "Almada" after decades he spent working in the arts of animation in Hungary. He represents  another example after the late Mua'yyed Ni'ma  , through  his local presence  by the galleries organized by Iraqi caricaturists inside and outside Iraq . Some of them  like  the artist Ahmed Aludwani from Mosul won in international competitions, in one of the biggest international competitions for freedom of opinion, as well as the artist Amir Taqi Ajam who won  in the first international art portrait caricature conducted by the Facebook site . The two are from the youth generation. Many of the Iraqi caricaturists continued inside Iraq and abroad to publish their activities in the press or through the Internet sites.

Where does Ali Mandilawi find himself through the long march of Iraqi art of caricature?
I find myself in the caricature portrait drawing, and I was the first to  hold a personal gallery for this art in Iraq, and perhaps in the region. That was in 1986 under the banner of "Faces from the inside", and I won the first prize equally in the major gallery held in Cairo for caricature Arab  and African artists with models of my works for this type of caricature.
*You wrote many articles .. Which is closer to you as a tool of expression the caricature  or the article?
In the beginning it was the drawing. Since childhood I have been fascinated with this art . Therefore I continued in my passion for it and decided to study its rules  academically , so I joined the Institute of Fine Arts, and during the study I worked in "My magazine" Journal as a painter, and from there I began writing  when I chose a number of Kurdish folk tales and wrote scenarios and I drew them in series (Commix) . I displayed them in the Kurdish culture Assembly hall in Baghdad in 1977. It was  the first gallery for this art, both in Kurdistan and Iraq. My life was  of a painter rather than of  a writer, and still. Despite my passion for writing I am still the artist that I have been since more than three decades.
*Is there an Iraqi imprint in the caricature art?
Yes, there is a fingerprint .The late Egyptian artist and writer Mohiuddin  Allabad before referred in an article entitled "Caricature did  not come to Egypt" to the privacy of Iraqi caricature, with two examples Nuri Thabit in Habaz Booz, and Mua'yyed Ni'ma who worked in many specialized magazines in caricature works in Baghdad since the late sixties of the last century in spite of the oppression that is still prevalent despite the claims of democracy. This  shows that the indicator of the caricature compass indicates that this art is safe and in progress, despite the multiplicity of its horsemen, and their high art and moral level, but it works in an area of ​​moving sand which is almost the most dangerous in the world.

They did not come out from under the ancient Egyptian caricaturist's  coat.
What space  did Mua'yyed Ni'ma take in the Iraqi memory?
A pace which is worth that the state should honor him with the Iraqi people Order and  allocate an annual award in his name to be granted to the talented caricature artists, and there should be a museum for his works .. etc..

* What about Mandalawi' s galleries  ... the place and date?
I held more than ten solo galleries in Baghdad, Erbil and Sulaymaniyah, the Jordanian capital of Amman, the Netherlands and England in addition to the posts of the many participations in the international festivals. I am honored  by the existence of my work in the museums of Jordan, Tunisia, Qatar and in the art centers in the Netherlands as well as in personal collections in the world, .I am proud of my works of the art of portraiture caricature being kept in a Museum of Modern sedate Art, like  the Arab museum in Qatar.
* Where are the Faily Kurds in the drawings of Mandalawi?
I do look at myself in such a small mirror. It is   not correct to say to an artist speaking the Surani dialect  what he presented to the  speakers of his dialect  or to ask the Behdanani or North Karmanji dialect speaking artist such a question.. etc.. I can see myself in them all in any creative work produced by me or any other Kurdish artists wherever I was or they were.