Top street art in Erbil

Map of street art in Erbil (Iraq)

The capital of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, whose citadel is UNESCO-listed, carries two murals by Jinks Kunst. One is devoted to the Persian New Year, Nowruz, the spring festival celebrated across the Iranian plateau and in Kurdistan. The other depicts a nautilus.

The choice of Nowruz is not incidental: in a region where cultural identity has long been contested, painting a traditional festival on a wall is an assertion as much as a decoration. The nautilus, a shell in logarithmic spiral, belongs to a universal register with no regional reference.

Urban art in the Middle East developed in waves, often tied to periods of reconstruction or opening, with active scenes in Beirut, Amman and the Gulf cities. Erbil, spared the destruction that struck the rest of the country, is among the cities where this kind of commissioning was able to settle.

Find the 2 artworks by the following street artists in Erbil (Iraq)

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