Reemoshka: Recreating My Family Home
Opening Image: Reemoshka, in her family garden, 2093, produced with AI Midjourney.

February 2093, Baghdad, Iraq
Interview Written by Hajar for Baghdad Life Magazine

Under the hot summer sun, with mud on her face and a smile stretching her lips, Reemoshka observed the rebuilding of her ancestral home. Colorful and bright, as Widad Al-Orfali once described her ancestor, “colors, colors, colors”, Reemoshka grew up in Saudi Arabia, just as her mother and grandmother did. She considers herself Saudi but still feels attached to her great-grandmother’s land, Baghdad, or to be more specific, the Abbas Family home. She never let go of the utopian visuals of Al-Orfali’s paintings, which reminded her of what she had inherited, whether it was how she dressed or how she treated the people around her.

One hundred and ten years after they left Baghdad, 90 years after the war in Iraq, in Adhamiya, where her great-grandfather’s home once existed, replaced for a long while by tiny houses, Reemoshka made her grandmother’s dream come true. She rebuilt the Abbas family home. The fairy tale that she never thought she would actually see has been recreated. Archives, photos, videos, and stories were the key to her success. But they took a lot of work to come by. Between the famous architect Rifaat Chardirji’s original designs of the house in his archive and photographs, the family videos of her great-great-grandfather, and her grandmother’s stories, she knew this was the closest approximation she could ever recreate.

Reemoshka

Named after her great-great-grandmother, who reflected her courage and audacity, Reem, better known as Reemoshka, did the impossible and showed other diasporic Iraqis that it was possible to return after years of disconnection. The disconnect was a product of the wars and destruction of their families’ homes and memories.

Reemoshka had not set foot in Iraq until she became determined to recreate one of her ancestral homes and its farm: the Abbas family home. She was able to save up enough and secure sufficient sponsorships and grants to fund the rebuild and create this space for arts and culture.

I was fortunate to have the opportunity to interview her and discuss her process. She sat me down on a patio overlooking the garden, or as she called it, Bustan. We enjoyed a refreshing blend of lemon, mint, and ice-cold water, accompanied by a side of Kleicha, a date-based pastry.

Q: What inspired you, actually, to recreate your family’s home?

A: My family has always talked about this home as a fairytale, never to be seen or lived in again, leaving behind so many memories and love. I couldn’t just leave it. I couldn’t just let my history cease to exist. I matter, my family matters, our forgotten dreams matter, and our destroyed hopes matter, especially in a land that was supposed to be ours. Not that I am not grateful for the new life we have, but there will always be a hurt in our DNA because tyranny made us leave in order to save ourselves and have a better life. So I had to recreate it: I had to heal my generational trauma and give my family back the space they may have consciously or unconsciously longed for.

Q: What was the biggest challenge you faced?

A: There were so many different challenges. There are ephemeral, practical, and philosophical considerations, ranging from selecting the correct plant life to choosing the right books for the space. The most exciting challenge was recreating the building accurately. The house was a mix of architecture and art. My references were an amalgamation of stories, artwork, and archival content. But I ended up with the question: how do I design the house? Do I use the archival documents solely, or do I match the stories and memories I inherited? This became an exercise in distinguishing between what is real and what isn’t. Then I decided that nothing was real, and I used the archival documents as a basis, then followed my intuition in many decisions and relied heavily on my and my mother’s memory. I mean, the building is standing, and it’s functional, so that is all that matters.

Q: Are you going to live in the house?

A: I want to and will put down roots here, but also I want to restore its spirit by making it the leading space for art and culture. I will open this space up for art programming, residencies, salons, collections, and everything. I want this home to be a cultural hub, a place where art, dance, laughter, and love can flourish. My ancestral home or family’s home deserves to be given a new life, away from the stories of horror and heartbreak. It used to be an open home, where anyone could feel home: artists, family, friends, and even strangers. They would come and be part of the house. There was always something hot to eat and someone to have a conversation with. I want to recreate that feeling of welcome and I want this home to be remembered and constantly mentioned as a space for creative expression and being. It is a no-judgment zone for artists and creatives to keep producing whatever they want, however they like; feeling free to express themselves however they wish.

Q: What dream did you want to fulfill in this house?

A: There is a picture of one of my great-grandmothers sitting on the porch with a straw hat and a newspaper. Ever since I saw this picture, I knew I wanted to recreate it. I remember being five and wondering about what she felt in that garden: the lushness of the greenery, the wholeness of the scenery, and the vastness of the space. I wanted that moment to be mine as well: to have a piece of history within my living memory and not just in pictures. So that is my dream. I want to recreate a part of my history. I also have a photo of my grandfather on the same or perhaps another patio talking to someone covered in greenery. I want this space to be as green and as lush. Whether it is those moments or it is the happiness, dance, and love that once existed in this space. My dream is to be able to channel them into this home.

Q: Who do you want to inherit this space from you?

A: Ha! I’m still young!!! I have many years to live!! But if I have to choose, I may want my future children to inherit it on the one condition that it is always used as a cultural space. If I don’t have kids, then maybe I’ll give it to my nieces or nephews. Or perhaps I’ll make it into a foundation that runs by itself. I want to ensure that the spirit of creation remains alive in this home and that it is always filled with the energy of my family: creative, loving, and embracing.

Reemoshka’s Home for Arts and Culture (RAC)

Location: Adhamiya, Baghdad, Iraq.

Opening Times: 9 am-9 pm

Lunch is available on site

Images provided by Reemoshka from her personal archives.

About Hajer

Hajar is a creative writer of fiction and non-fiction narratives in all their forms. She specializes in ancestral and family stories and their relations to the cultural spheres. She has published many books and research essays on the subject of family art collections and creative spaces. She has a master’s in Journalism, Art History, and Contemporary Literature.