Haifa Zangana

About

Haifa Zangana is an Iraqi Kurdish writer, political activist, and artist born in 1950 in Baghdad to a Kurdish father and Iraqi mother.[6] She followed her communist father's political footsteps and became actively involved in political activism from 1977 to 1986.[3] During the Baath regime in the early 1970s, she was arrested, imprisoned, and tortured at multiple facilities including Qasr al-Nahiya (the Palace of the End) and Zafaraniyya prison.[2] These harrowing experiences of incarceration, torture, and exile became central themes in her autobiographical novel Dreaming of Baghdad (originally published as Through Vast Holes of Memory).[2] Zangana is a multidisciplinary artist working across literature, visual art, and political commentary. As a painter, she has participated in various European and American surrealist publications and group exhibitions, with solo shows in London and Iceland.[1] She is currently based in London and continues to work as a novelist, artist, and political commentator.[3][5] Her work consistently addresses the human toll of war, occupation, and political repression, drawing from her personal experiences and deep commitment to documenting Iraqi civilian suffering.

Surrealism with autobiographical and political dimensions; her work blends personal testimony with artistic expression to address themes of war, occupation, torture, and resistance.