Rheim Alkadhi's 'Templates for Liberation' at ICA London

This summer, the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London will unveil 'Templates for Liberation,' marking the first solo exhibition in the UK for artist Rheim Alkadhi. The exhibition explores the lasting impacts of war and colonialism on contemporary Iraq and its surroundings. In the main gallery, visitors will find newly created sculptures crafted from heavy-duty transport tarpaulins, repurposed from cross-border trucks, which bear signs of their international journeys. These petroleum-derived tarps, obtained from Iraq—ranked as the fifth largest oil producer globally—underscore both ecological and political issues. The nearby reading room, titled 'The Land and the People,' showcases archival materials related to Iraq’s colonial borders established by British and French powers from 1916 to 1923, including Henry Field’s 'The Anthropology of Iraq' (1935), which informed Franklin D. Roosevelt’s classified 'M' project for post-WWII resettlement. Additionally, Alkadhi features speculative rebel stories through photographic portraits of marginalized women, ethnic minorities, and communists. A publication accompanying the exhibition includes contributions from Alkadhi, Ayreen Anastas and Rene Gabri, Kali Rubaii, and Françoise Vergès, with an introduction by curator Andrea Nitsche-Krupp.