Art In Iraq

Has it ground to a halt? From an Iraqi sculptor on the NYT blog:

As for me, I have stopped doing art since the early days of the invasion. I lost the desire to do it: the scenes of death and horror we see every day filled my mind and made me stop thinking about beautiful things anymore. I know that many Iraqis feel the same way, because they are just like me, seeing death and killing around them every day.

So every time I pick up my pen and try to sketch, I find myself drawing scenes of death, and when I try to think of it as a way to let off steam a little, I start to feel pity for the person who is going to see it. Since art is a way of communicating, then I’m going to add more frightening thoughts. This is when I decide to stop.

Many of my fellow artists have fled the country, going to places where the might find a bit of hope and a space to breath clean air again in order to be again as creative as they once were.

But those murals on the massive concrete walls we've constructed to separate sects? Who's painting them?