Ruya Foundation, the Iraqi art foundation best known for organising the Iraqi pavilion at the Venice Biennale, has announced the launch of Ruya Maps, a non-profit organisation which will work with artists from areas of social or political instability globally. The programme will include international exhibitions by artists from zones of conflict, as well as projects on site, including artist commissions, workshops, talks and collaborations with local initiatives. Tamara Chalabi, cofounder of the Ruya Foundation and director of the Maps programme, explained the initiative aimed to ‘grant access to artists who are excluded from the international art world due to political, economic or geographical reasons’, while allowing ‘international audiences to engage with many of the difficult subjects of our times through the universal language of art’.
The inaugural exhibition, by Venezuelan artist Pepe López, will launch at the Fitzrovia Chapel, London, and run from 14 October – 26 October. The programme for 2019 will be announced this autumn.
18 July 2018
