Saddam al Jumaily was born in Basra in 1974. He graduated from the College of Fine Arts, Basra University in 2000 in visual arts (painting). He eventually became a lecturer at the college but had been accused and threatened with his life for promoting atheism, which led him to flee to Amman. Best known as a painter, al Jumaily is also involved in many Arabic publications as a writer and proficient graphic designer. He was an art editor of Iraq’s Manara magazine for a while.
Saddam’s work is best described as nostalgic, considering his disturbing past in Iraq and his uprooting from location to another. He chooses to depict the chaos and confusion around him with his surreal animal-shaped subjects, that act as Iraqi symbols of harshness as a result of two decades of the region’s turmoil.
He currently still resides in Amman, Jordan, and has held several exhibitions around the Middle East.
