The Cultural Center at the University of Basrah, in cooperation with Al-Kunooz University College, organized an open artistic dialogue entitled (Meeting Iraqi Creative Women), in which a group of Basra artists participated.
The Director of the Cultural Center, Dr. Abdul Kareem Abboud Odeh, stated that the dialogue aimed to present the personal experiences of a group of Iraqi artists in the field of theater, television and cinema, namely the artist Dr. Shatha Salem, the artist Dr. Awatef Naim and the pioneering artist Aziz Khayoun, in order to cross-fertilize ideas and shed light on the intellectual and aesthetic content they presented during their career.
For her part, the artist Awatif Naim spoke about her experience in the theater by saying, "Life is nothing but a theater, and the theater actor is a teacher who teaches and uses his/her theater as a tool for enlightenment. The theater contributes to the development of the actor’s abilities and gives him/her the freedom to speak, so it deserves to be the mirror of society. As it is the thing which is credited with forming my artistic and cognitive personality, and it added to me as well as the Iraqi artists and creators solidity, strength and courage in shouldering responsibilities.”
Naeem added - despite the TV's invasion of our artistic world, the theater was able to survive, and it has produced important Iraqi artists such as Nahid Al-Rammah, Wedad Salem, Fatima Al-Rubaie and Saadia Al-Zaidi, who enriched the Iraqi arena with their artistic achievement.
In addition, the artist, Shatha Salem, expressed her great pride in being an Iraqi artist who was tutored by her father, the artist and director Taha Salem. She is from an artistic family, from which her sister Suha Salem and her brother Faez Salem, who had an imprint in Iraqi drama in the eighties of the last century, came out.
Actress Shatha Salem expressed her disappointment with the strange transformation of art in recent years and ashamed of its lack of feminist elements resulting from the deliberate absence of many female artists by producers and directors.
The open meeting included a musical performance of the Buzuq instrument and the song (Basratna) performed by the artist Hussein Al-Iraqi, with honoring the participating artists with the Creativity Shield.
