London, UK (KRG.org) - An exhibition of Kurdish artist Mr Osman Amed’s work on the Anfal genocide will open next week at the Imperial War Museum, one of the world’s leading museums of modern war.

The work of the Kurdish artist looks back on the experiences of the Kurdish people during the genocidal Anfal campaign by Saddam Hussein’s forces in the late 1980s.

Mr Roger Tolson, Head of Art at the Imperial War Museum, said, “Osman Ahmed's extraordinary drawings go right to the heart of the Imperial War Museum's remit. They are an eloquent and moving testimony of the impact of war on individuals and communities. His lines appear to capture the unravelling of lives in the face of repression and terror.”

The Imperial War Museum decided to exhibit Mr Ahmed’s drawings because they pay tribute to the endurance of civilians in the face of chemical attack, forced migration, mass killing and deep suffering. His drawings are displayed with the First World War painting Gassed, by John Singer Sargent.

Mr Ahmed studied at Suleimaniah College of Art and later at Camberwell School of Art in London. His drawings, where crowds of people migrate endlessly through a deserted landscape towards an unknown destination, depict the forced displacement of tens of thousands of Kurds during the Anfal operations. They also reflect his own flight from Iraq.

Survivors, activists and the Kurdistan Regional Government continue to campaign for the tens of thousands of victims of the Anfal operations to be remembered, and for genocide to never happen again in Iraq.

The exhibition, entitled Displaced, runs from 8th June to 7th September 2008 at the Imperial War Museum London.