Saïd Farhan

Born Baghdad, Iraq, 1955

Farhan graduated from the Ecole d'Art de Lausanne and the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, where he studied social science and teacher training. He settled in Switzerland, teaching visual arts at Beausobre College, Morges. His work includes paintings and drawings as well as limitededition prints accompanying poems by the Syrian poet Adonis and the Swiss writer Alain Rochat. More recently he has been working on an installation, The Library of Baghdad, reflecting on the destruction of the libraries of Iraq. He is also a writer and has published translations of the works of Iraqi poet Fawzi Karim and novels in Arabic and French. His children’s stories were published in the 1970s in Baghdad. Much of Farhan’s work has been inspired by his experience of exile. It has been exhibited in Europe, the Middle East and the USA, including the touring exhibition Strokes of Genius: Contemporary Iraqi Art, which began in London, 2000. He lives and works in Lausanne.