Chapeau Lubna Al-Afandy: The Iraqi Artist Who Rediscovered Her Dream in Canada

 Lubna Al-Afandy never went to art school, nor did she begin her professional life expecting to become a visual artist. Her education and career were in administration and marketing — a world far removed from canvases and exhibitions.

Yet one thing had stayed with her since childhood in Iraq: a love of drawing.

It was a talent she enjoyed during her school years, before life gradually asked her to put it aside. Family responsibilities and raising her daughters took priority, and for years she stepped away from art almost completely.

It could easily have remained a childhood passion she once had.

Instead, migration unexpectedly brought her back to it.

Al-Afandy left Iraq for Abu Dhabi in 2007 as conditions in her homeland changed, before moving to Canada in 2012. It was there, in a new country and a new chapter of her life, that she returned to colour and began building the artistic career she had never formally studied for.

Without academic training in fine arts, she developed her skills through observation, practice, experimentation and the simple determination to keep improving.

As part of Tawasul News' "Immigrant Women Outside the Box" series, Al-Afandy's story is not simply about an Iraqi artist who found success abroad. It is about a woman returning, years later, to a dream that life had once asked her to postpone.

And she did not keep that dream confined to canvas.

Al-Afandy works in acrylic and oil as well as mixed media, incorporating ceramics, metals and decorative elements into some pieces. She has painted on glass, mirrors, wood, ceramics, leather and fabric.

Painting on clothing became particularly close to her heart. In 2017, she presented an Arab fashion show featuring her own artwork on abayas and shawls.

It was as though she was no longer searching for the right surface on which to paint. Almost anything around her could become a place for art.

Yet one element runs through much of her work more strongly than any medium: Iraq.

Iraqi women, traditional homes, decorative motifs, Arab heritage and echoes of ancient Iraqi civilization repeatedly appear in her creations. Al-Afandy describes much of her work as rooted particularly in Iraqi heritage and, more broadly, in Arab culture, with a strong desire to celebrate the beauty, dignity and value of women.

That is why many of her works feel like more than paintings of a place.

They feel like an attempt not to lose it.

Baghdad may have been left behind geographically, but it reappears on wood, glass, mirrors, fabric and canvas — almost as if the city itself travelled with her to Canada in another form.

As her artistic journey grew, it also became about more than her own work.

Al-Afandy established Baghdadi Art House in Canada to help revive Arab art and support small artistic projects in the diaspora. She has also worked in an administrative role with Bazarna, an initiative supporting small businesses.

Through Baghdadi Art House, she has helped organize cultural and artistic events bringing together artists and members of Arab communities, including the Arts and Creativity Forum and the Mesopotamia Festival.

And perhaps that is one of the most meaningful turns in her story:

The immigrant woman who once needed space to return to her own art eventually began creating space for other people as well.

Over the years, Al-Afandy has participated in exhibitions and cultural events across Canada and abroad — from Ontario's Carassauga Festival of Cultures and exhibitions in Mississauga to events in Alexandria, Lebanon and Baghdad — receiving certificates, shields and medals of recognition along the way.

Yet the most compelling part of her journey may have little to do with awards.

It is when she chose to begin again.

She had studied a field unrelated to art. She had spent years away from painting while raising her family. She had moved from Iraq to Abu Dhabi and eventually to Canada.

Still, she never decided that the years that had passed meant her opportunity had passed with them.

In Canada, Lubna Al-Afandy returned to a part of herself she had placed aside long ago.

She reopened an old dream, picked up her colours and began again.

Chapeau, Lubna Al-Afandy — because some dreams do not arrive late. Sometimes, they are simply waiting for us to come back to them.