Rijin Sahakian

(b. Baghdad, 1978) uses writing, art-making, and teaching to examine the relationship of images and rhetoric to experiences of violence. She founded Sada, an arts education initiative for Baghdad-based students, operating from 2010-15. Sahakian has lectured extensively on critical issues in the arts, organized public exhibitions and seminars, and was a visiting professor at the California Institute of the Arts. She has contributed texts to e-flux Journal, n+1, Artforum, Mutanabbi Street Starts Here, Warscapes, and World Records, and created an anthology film with former members of Sada for documenta fifteen.