South London Gallery

Passed a pleasant hour or two at the South London Gallery recently.   I called in initially to have lunch at No 67, their cafe/restaurant.  It was extremely good and I only wished I'd had room for the delicious looking cakes as well.  Their current exhibition is Welcome to Iraq which was very interesting.  I particularly appreciated the imaginative recycled seating by Akeel Khreef ...

Akeel Khreef - Woollen rug on metal generator frame

Akeel Khreef - Bicycle parts

Seat detail - from tyres

Kadhim Nwir's untitled paintings were colourful, quite abstract and the use of some text and numbers gave them a graffiti like quality.

Kadhim Nwir - Untitled

Furat al Jamil's Honey Pot sculpture shows honeycomb frames dripping into a broken pot.  This is supposed to convey sweet melancholy combining the sadness she feels for her homeland but also hope for the future.

Furat al Jamil - Honey Pot

The Welcome to Iraq exhibition, which includes lots more, is on until 1 June 2014.