Curator: Orly Baher Levy
Nessim Zalayet was born in Baghdad in 1923. Zalayet, who started out in Iraq as a figurative artist who specialized in painting portraits, made a conscious decision to embrace the abstract style, which he continues to pursue to this very day. In fact, one could say that Zalayet underwent a kind of artistic absorption process, during which he chose to abandon the symbols of the past that were articulated in his old style, and embarked on a new direction. Nevertheless, an examination of his works on display in the exhibition reveals to us traces of the past, sometimes distinct and sometimes vague, like footprints on the sand at the seashore.