Adnan Abbas's "Call to Humanity"

Adnan Abbas, 27, an Iraqi artist, created the sculpture "Call to Humanity," above, after witnessing a car bombing. (Lynsey Addario for the New York Times)


Constantly short on supplies, Adnan Abbas, like other students at the Baghdad Academy of Fine Arts, paints over a picture discarded by another artist to create a canvas for himself. Explaining the bleak mood of many of his works, he said, "Misery is part of humanity, especially here." (Lynsey Addario for the New York Times)

Cf. Jeffrey Gettleman, "Art Imitates Iraqi Life in All Its Chaos and Misery" (New York Times, July 25, 2004).