To me, arts and culture are two of the most important things that require preservation, and this is exactly what this digital archive’s purpose is. Indeed working, in collaboration, on something so great as a first experience has been beyond my pleasure, and especially within the Kashkul environment. This opportunity I have received has not been strictly within the boundaries of a working experience, it has given me a chance to connect with the works of an artist, his insights, and to thrive personally and professionally through the stretch of its potential.
An archiving process is not simple. We brought back previously collected metadata, created through many meetings with the artist and a walk through their artistic journey. After reviewing all the data one folder at a time, we began translating the content into both Kurdish and Arabic to make it accessible to all audiences. This process raised frequent questions about whether we were capturing the artist’s purpose as he shared it with us, and for this we frequently went back to the transcript of his interviews. Although it required great attention, the thoughtfulness of it made the process fulfilling.
Other than the technical aspects of the work, there are other ones to highlight as well. I have come to learn plenty on Khayat’s perspectives and ideals through his works and the descriptions he has given them, be his love for Kurdistan, showcasing the beauty of the body and life, or his emphasis on human nature and their connections through his sketches. He has a very unique vision, which needs an observant eye and represents the depth of his artistic self. I say this because while adding the description data and what the purpose of each specific piece is about, I have found myself spending plenty of time trying to understand how the piece achieves the purpose he has aimed for. It is this part of the process that brings me the most satisfaction, learning about things that I did not expect, let aside help in archiving them. Another important aspect of the work has been adding descriptions to the pieces that we have not been able to gather precise and exact information on and have only achieved the general overview of the series. To fix this issue, after getting in touch with Dr. James and seeking advice on the professionality of adding what has not been already stated, we came up with the idea that for artworks that are not very vague, through the help of the general background of the series and the title of the artwork, we add some perspective through our lens and specify that this has not been stated by the artist himself, rather was gathered by us through the contexts we have been given clearly. This is done so without going extremely beyond the overall idea because we aim at the prevention of any alteration in how his works have been shared initially.
Therefore, archiving, especially that of Ismail Khayat’s works, for me, is not just a process of putting down and sorting out the information that has been gathered, it is rather a journey of learning, exploring and broadening my horizons.
Dina Sirwan
August 6, 2025
Slêmanî