BAGHDAD — Being in third grade can be challenging enough without living in a battle zone. Ahmed Saleem and his classmates in the war-torn town of Fallouja have seen a lot in their eight years.
But they've also seen a small ray of hope enter their lives in the form of a unique program aimed at bringing art to society's most vulnerable. Some of Iraq's best-known artists, including oil painter Hadi Mahood, have contributed their time and even found inspiration from their young charges.
"I wish they would come more often," Ahmed said. "They taught me how to draw some nice things like trees and birds and animals. Things I've missed. Before, all I could think about was drawing tanks and soldiers."
Amid the destruction and bloodshed, Iraqi artists have been trying to make a difference. They believe their country's soul is crying out for the sort of healing their work represents -- a beacon of hope for a battered people.
For art critic Nizaar Rawi, a change in mentality has to start small, with Iraq's children. His Baghdad-based group, the Contemporary Visual Arts Society, has organized the therapeutic art classes for children at four elementary schools, two in the Shiite Muslim-dominated Baghdad slum of Sadr City and two in primarily Sunni Muslim Fallouja.
"We picked these because of the high tension in these cities," Rawi, 33, said. "The aim is to change children's minds, to provide them with something tangible that is far from their everyday reality of war and killing."
As part of the program, local artists have taught the youngsters to paint, draw, explore colors and tap into their creativity. The society, headed by a Sunni, a Shiite and a Christian, is also trying to send its message of unity by example.
Faaiq Ahmed, a 35-year-old photographer, is using a different medium. He's helped stage an exhibition of posters from across Iraq's religious, social and geographic spectrum.
"Artists play an important role building a bridge across the sectarian divide," he said. "Each artist has their own viewpoint, but we also have a common viewpoint, which is art itself."
Even as artists are helping to heal society's scars, however, they're nursing their own wounds suffered during Saddam Hussein's presidency.
"Artists hold the soul of a nation," said Mohammed Kinani, a professor of painting at Baghdad University's College of Fine Arts. "Now we're trying to get that back. The regime tried to kill that soul."
