We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Elaf Hussein a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Elaf, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

The most meaningful project I have worked on has to be my silkscreen series. This series reflects on my identity as a Iraqi American. I share Iraq through my lense and how it has changed due to terrorism. Last year I was able to visit Iraq after 14 years due to saftey concerns. I felt a sense of loss visiting; Walking through the destructed streets and passing by the rubble of what once was considered a home. Unalived families still buried under a lot of destructed homes; they are being found in the process of restoring the affected areas to this day. I decided to document the destruction using my camera and compiled a total of 600 photographs. I decided to screen print these images onto wood panels and then layer them with either comic book art text or imagery. I do this to appeal to a western audience. I want to make these uncomfortable subjects more approachable. In today’s media we are so desensitized seeing images of destruction and loss. By adding pop art to my work I want to allow the visual elements of my work to convey the gravity of the subject matter.

Elaf, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a 1st generation Iraqi American artist based in the NJ-NY metropolitan area. I hold an associate degree from Hudson County Community College and a Bachelors Degree from New Jersey City University. My work is part of the HCCC foundation collection. My paintings delve into humanitarian themes, often utilizing metaphorical visuals to highlight the significance of my subjects. My work has been showcased in multiple exhibition spaces, such as ArtFair14C, NJCU galleries, Art150 and IMUR Gallery.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

In my creative journey my mission is to bring awareness to the humanitarian issues going on in today’s world. I aim to unite my audience and encourage them to speak about what’s going on in today’s world. I want my work to impact the way people handle these humanitarian issues and political topics. When I make my work I think about all the loss, corruption, and greed that exists in today’s world. I want people who view my work to think about these things and feel encouraged to be a voice for those who are voiceless.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

With all these trendy Ai images of artworks I feel that society can start by saying no to Ai. Using Ai is a slap in the face to artists. Artists who use Ai to make art refuse to understand why it is such a pressing issue. Ai uses peoples intellectual property without consent. Most Ai algorithms are trained using existing artworks without permission. This means someone else’s artwork online is being used to train Ai without their consent. It is also pretty harmful to the environment as well considering it uses non renewable energy. Ai uses massive energy consumption. The nonrenewable energy Ai uses are electricity and water. If you truly want to support artists just stop using generative Ai. Support real artists by visiting galleries near you, going to museums, and going to open studios.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://elafhussein.work
• Instagram: Ella.xxr
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/public-profile/settings?trk=d_flagship3_profile_self_view_public_profile

Image Credits

Headshot photographed by Dee Diaz