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Despite controversy, religious art increasingly popular in Iraq

Iraqi artists who specialize in painting imams and sacred historical figures find themselves in demand even though their art provokes a religious backlash from some.
Iraqi artist Wissam Ghadi paints a portrait of Shi'ite Imam Ali in his Al Sadr city studio on the outkirts of Baghdad December 25, 2003. Repressed under three decades of secular Arab nationalist rule, Iraq's majority Shi'ite Muslims are enjoying the new-found freedom of painting religious figures to practice their faith with impunity. Picture taken December 25, 2003. TO MOVE WITH FEATURE STORY BC-IRAQ-SHI'ITES-PAINTING REUTERS/Ali Jasim  CLH/AA - RTR9AJE
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Painter Mohammed Hetlr has been preoccupied with drawing and painting sacred Shiite figures from Iraq and around the world. He has been making good money selling his work and, in an interview with Al-Monitor, said that he considered his painting to be part of his “religious duty” to express his faith and ideological commitment.

This art, which often comes from the Naive school of painting, has become very popular with many Iraqis, who have acquired the custom of hanging the paintings on their walls, in their grocery stores or official institutions and mosques.

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