GIŠIMMAR—the Sumerian word for the date palm—stands at the heart of this exhibition as both subject and structure. For Salem Mathkour, the palm becomes a living symbol through which he reflects on southern Iraq, cultural memory, and the passage of time. Rooted in the landscapes of the Iraqi south, the nakhla appears not simply as an image but as a vessel of accumulated experience, carrying traces of labor, ritual, and lived history.
Working across watercolour, sketch, silkscreen, and acrylic, Mathkour approaches this work as a contemplative and material practice. Drawing from traditions of oral storytelling and poetic expression, his works do not illustrate specific narratives but evoke states of being—growth, endurance, loss, and continuity. The palm becomes a mediator between life and death, presence and absence, grounding the work in cyclical rather than linear time.
Materiality plays a central role throughout the exhibition. The textures of bark, fiber, and layered growth are translated into surface and gesture, with each medium contributing to a tactile language shaped by repetition and restraint. Across a series of interconnected works, the exhibition unfolds as a rhythmic environment in which the GIŠIMMAR emerges as a symbol of survival, resilience, and the quiet persistence of memory.
