Integration of a Woman is the title of Ban Kubba’s new exhibit, her first solo show in Canada.
And it’s a fitting name for her Coquitlam display given the journey she’s had to travel to get to this country.
Now a Port Moody resident, Kubba escaped her native Iraq with her three kids for Dubai to pursue a better — and more peaceful — life.
But there, Kubba found her creative freedom was even more stifled.
She learned about censorship the hard way while trying to display her artwork, in 2009.
Her nude female forms were considered inappropriate for Dubai’s values and she was told to remove them.
In one instance, the curator threatened to take them down the day before her exhibit was to open to the public.
However, Kubba worked out a deal that managed to keep it alive: Her images were to covered under a veil.
“It was so ironic,” Kubba recalled. “There were these veiled women who were picking up a veil to see the paintings. I guess it was provocative for them.”
Kubba immigrated to Canada the following year and continued her work as an architect while still painting in her spare time.
Since she has landed, Kubba has taken part in a group exhibit in Montreal with other Iraqi-Canadian visual artists.
For her solo show at Place des Arts, which opens Friday, Kubba will have 26 acrylic and watercolour pictures — painted over the past three years — on a familiar theme: the female figure, in all shapes, colours and sizes.
“For me, a piece of art is an interchange of ideas,” Kubba said, “so each piece has to have a strong point of view in order to appreciate it.”
Meanwhile, also opening April 1, in the Atrium Gallery, is Perplexity (ceramic, sculpture and photos) by Geemon Xin Meng and, in the Mezzanine Gallery, The Work and Art of Women in Africa (photos) by Claudine Pommier.
• The opening reception for the three exhibits is on Friday from 7 to 9 p.m. at Place des Arts (1120 Brunette Ave., Coquitlam). A screening of Pommier’s documentary, The Power of Art: Women’s Voices in Africa, will be play during the reception. Call 604-664-1636 or visit placedesarts.ca.
jwarren@tricitynews.com
@jwarrenTC
