Shafaq News/ Al-Sulaymaniyah (a city in Kurdistan) is known for its cultural and artistic movement and has always been central in several activities that have been characterized by the spirit of rebellion on traditional frameworks; especially in painting and fine arts, in which various schools of thought were mixed.

This was in line with youth attempts to perpetuate the natural and demographic aspects of the city. They sought to document its ancient and heritage buildings in paintings -fearing that its memory would disappear with attempts to modernize the city and renew its buildings to keep pace with urban progress.

Frud Baqi was born in Al-Sulaymaniyah in 1973; he grew up to be a plastic artist with a special way of painting that abstracts and documents the ancient buildings in his city -which was replaced by a modern engineering style.

Studying was not discrete in making Frud unique in his fine art which he derived from the spirit of the place. His memories from the city he lived in enabled him from establishing the need to cling to the roots and use the colors harmoniously with the place’s rhythm, identity and memory.

“I was born and grew up in Al-Sulaymaniyah. All of my childhood memories are in this city’s alleys. This made me take this path of art, aiming to immortalize it vividly as it is etched in my mind”, Frud Baqi declared to Shafaq News agency.

Instead of demolishing these buildings, Frud demands the authorities to preserve it, as they embody the heritage of ancient architecture.