Kuwaiti sculptors struggle to be seen in conservative society
No law explicitly bans the display of sculptures or statues in public places, but officials play safe
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Kuwaiti sculptor Sami Mohammad finished his towering statue of the country’s first emir over four decades ago, but now it just gathers dust unseen in a longshuttered office block.
Like other sculptors in the country, the 75-year-old bristles at claims that his creations constitute idol worship. “We have to get past these issues because the human, the individual, has reason and thought, and it’s really not possible that we would go back to worshipping idols,” Mohammad, a devout Muslim, says. “We no longer live in a time of ignorance. We live in the era of technology.”
While there is no law in Kuwait that explicitly prohibits the display of sculptures or statues in public places, the country is home to an influential circle of conservatives that ■ has pushed to lock them up.
Kuwait’s Museum of Modern Art is a prime target. It opened in 2003 and boasts multiple statues of people by Kuwaiti artists in its collection. But they all sit behind closed doors, hidden from the public eye.
Artist Badr Fadel Alemdar, 42, says “fear” among officials of clashing with conservatives prevents his work from seeing the light of day. “The working environment for us is uncomfortable because some see the art of sculpting as blasphemy, especially if it is statues of famous people,” he said.
The passions over the issue were highlighted by disagreements among Kuwaiti lawmakers. In September, legislator Mohammed Hayef Al Mutairi called on the government to stop local artists from making statues. But fellow MP Ahmad Al Fadel dismissed this view as “backward”.