After finishing the historic show costumes 2002 which the previous manager brags with it today in Washington, I was assigned by order of the Presidential Office to design and following up the was assigned by order of the Presidential Office to design and following up the epic theatrical work costumes as senior designer for the House of Fashion.
The project is budgeted for 15,000,000 Iraqi dinars for that period, It was a very large sum before the war and the fall of Baghdad, I've spent it on fabrics, accessory making, and costumes details, the novel was written by President Saddam Hussein and was formulated by the poet Abdul Razzaq Abdul Wahid. It's events were related in some way to the fate of Iraq, as was written on the Wikipedia pages, during the war on Kuwait and speculation about the fate of Baghdad’s fall at the hands of the American armies.
The epic novel tells the story of a virginal love the king to a girl which her name is Zebiba, who lives grieving with her cruel husband, but the novel hides other meanings behind its simple folkloric façade. It is surrounded by a strange coding identical to the situation in Iraq and the fate of Iraq after the Kuwait War in 1991 and the fall of Baghdad in 2003...
Where the king represents Saddam and Zabiba represents the Iraqi people, while her husband embodies American forces with their cruelty. The traumatic drama reaches its climax, when an unknown Zebiba who turns out to be her husband is raped. Zabiba says that rape is the most heinous crime, whether it is a man raping a woman or invading armies raping the homeland. Zabiba met a tragic end with her death on January 17, the day the US bombing of Baghdad began, marking Operation Desert Storm in 1991.
It was a huge responsibility for a first-year student in the College of Art, where they were working on this epic work an elite group of artists with PhD degrees and prominent cultural figures in Iraq were the musical supervision of Dr. Ali Abdullah, director of the Department of Musical Arts, the author of the scene, Dr. Najm Abdul Haider, head of my department at the college, the lighting designer, Dr. Jalal Jamil, and the musical composition of Dr. Muhammad Amin Ezzat, head of the Iraqi Symphony Orchestra, among others. One of the big names in the world of culture, art, theater and music, I apologise to them for not remembering the names.
In the beginning, I took it like other tasks upon me. Some craftsmen grumbled and others left the work and refused to comply with the instructions to carry out the work with the aim of putting me in an embarrassing situation in front of the presidential office in front of the delivery period.. I tried to withdraw from work and that responsibility, because if the assignment was accepted, I would have to leave my studies, and this was all that the manager aspired to, as two of the girls’ craftsmen rebelled against the implementation of the accessories and left work in the fashion house after they knew that I might be harmed in the event of failure in this task in front of President Saddam, as well as the inadequacy of the workers in the sewing department, where the work was divided into offers and this assignment came suddenly and not for me from Craftsmen enough to distribute the work!
I asked the manager to resign and apologize and told her that my testimony represented the biggest difference to me in this situation, she got angry as usual and said to me ((leave the work .. and I will throw you in the security vaults))!
I used to hear from time to time about the director’s connection to security and the state, her domination over the employees, and her relations with officials, a family connection, but it was not thought that I would receive such words in my life throughout my work in the ministry!! ... After I checked with some colleagues in the house about the correctness of what the director was saying, they told me that this director has a great place among the top intelligence and state symbols and is able to harm anyone who opposes her desires to work! Caution beware!
She called me and told me that President Saddam Hussein wants to see the progress of work in your workshops. A filming team will be sent tonight, in the presence of Iraqi actors artists. Be ready. Collect all the fabrics you bought and display them during the work steps. This photography will be presented to the President !
Director Muhammad Tohma Al-Tamimi and his photographic team were sent to photograph the stages of the workflow. Of the creative Iraqi artists, I don't remember their names. The work was very huge and included large numbers of participants, more than 100 people.
Filming was in the evening, as my work in the fashion house at that time entered the stage of warning, either my life or the work deliver time. I was forced to stay in the fashion house and sleep daily for more than a month in the fashion house to continue working by myself while the artisans left their homes, while the manager was in daily contact with me through The classic landline phone, as there was no mobile phone at that time in Iraq, she is at home, and when she visits my workshops morning to work, she finds the most beautiful clothes hanging in her office to showing off in them.
To the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research
Minister's office
In accordance with the directives of the Honorable Presidential Office, this ministry was commissioned to produce the epic play we would like to inform you that Mr. Mohaymn Sami Amle the student in College of Fine Arts the first stage, has been assigned to design and follow up the costumes for this work, because of his commitment to this work, you must instruct that to the university.Minister of Culture
2002.03.19
A booklet for theatrical work and the names of the most important artistic personalities participating in its achievement
After completing the work, it was delivered to the National Theatre
The manager told me, after that, that President Saddam was satisfied with the work and liked it, according to the director of the work's production!
Because I was monopolized and restricted in movement, and the dresses were handed over, and I had no idea what happened and what is going on after that.
We were honored for completing the work me and my manager, and as is the case, the manager is proud and honored through my work and effort, but I was happy because this time my name was not monopolized and it was mentioned and written down, which she does not like at all.
After the work was presented to the Great National Theatre, she called me and said you should go to the minister's office to receive another personal honor from the president, for his satisfaction with the work at the hands of the Minister of Culture Hamid Yousef Hammadi...where the president ordered everyone to be honored this time.
I thought that I would use more freedom to buy fabrics, I aspired to modernize industrial machines and motivate craftsmen by increasing their wages, I thought we would be able to buy the cooling devices that I always needed in the workshops!
- New 2003 Chevrolet TrailBlazer SUVs were purchased
- Apple Macintosh computers are about forty devices under the pretext of working as a computer department.
- Expensive photographic equipment and cameras were purchased.
- Development of a fountain and garage for the director's car.
- Appoint friends of the manager's family and buy what they need to support their hobby.
- Allocating salaries of up to half a million dinars for each of them only by appointing them to the house under the name of the design department.
- Additional fees for meals and banquets at the expense of the open budget and other projects that did not see the light.
The manager did not spend a single dinar for the design department, the department that revives the suits, the department where I secretly sell my shows and brag about them today as one of her designs!
My craftsmen in the workshops were working on the old Brother industrial machines... and the two models were working in almost empty rooms! And for small fans! And they quarreled a lot and were not happy at all. They were cursing and cursing and talking about what you buy with the money of the house while they were in their miserable conditions working only for a living and not for the love of the fashion profession!
In the end, no one benefited from the equipment, the furniture, the cameras, or the spoils... the spoils of the open budget, except her.
To be Continued...
