Ala Bashir was born in Baghdad, Iraq in1939, Ala Bashir earned his Bachelor's of Medicine and Surgery (MBCHB) from the Iraqi College of Medicine in 1963 while also attending the Baghdad Institute of Fine Arts (1959-1962). In 1970, he obtained his Fellowship from the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh (FRCSEd) and trained as a Plastics and Reconstructive Surgeon in UK and France in 1971-1972.
ART IS NOT FOR ENTERTAINMENT
The Iraq Revolution Exhibition, held at the Adhamiya Olympic Club in Baghdad in 1958, served as my induction to the world of art. The exhibition opened on 20 September 1958, merely two months After the 14 July Revolution, which resulted in the overthrow of the Iraqi monarchy. The artistic rendition of the violent bloodshed of that day laid bare for me the capacity for evil and vengeance rooted deeply within the human soul. This experience helped me, in turn, to formulate my personal concept of the purpose of art: that art is not for entertainment; that art instead ought to provoke the mind, stir thought, on the meaning and purpose of our human existence.
