Layla Al Attar

Layla Al-Attar was an Iraqi artist and painter who became the Director of the Iraq National Art Museum. Through her art, Al-Attar expressed ideals that attempted to recognize the importance of women in all spheres of society. She graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Baghdad in 1965, and was among the first female graduates from that program. She held five one-woman shows in Iraq, and took part in all national and other collective exhibitions held in the country and abroad. She also won the Golden Sail Medal in the Cairo Biennial in 1984. On 27 June 1993, Al-Attar, her husband, and their housekeeper were killed by a U.S. missile attack on the Iraqi Intelligence main building which was just behind her house, ordered by U.S. President Bill Clinton. The attack also blinded Al-Attar's daughter. There are some rumours the misfire was intended due to an unflattering mosaic of President George H. W. Bush, designed by Al-Attar, laid onto the floor at the entrance to the Al-Rashid Hotel in Baghdad. The mosaic was removed when Baghdad was captured on 9 April 2003. Her death was met with an angry response in Baghdad. Her sister, Suad al-Attar, is also an artist who now lives and works in London.