The Leaf

Hundred Years Gallery

3 February - 13 March

Abdul Azeez Nasser came to the UK from Eritrea in the mid 1990s. He is both a poet and a painter and through both activities he addresses issues of history, creativity and internationalism.

‘My name is Azeez Nasser I am now in my 60s. ‘I was born in Keren, Eritrea and had my primary education there. By then, Eritrea was forcibly annexed and became the fourteenth province of Ethiopia. It was a time of persistent political and military turmoil. Extrajudicial killings of citizens- young and old, torture, extortions and years of curfews was the order of the day. It is within such a venomous environment that I passed my childhood and as such I was physically and emotionally impacted by it. My personality and outlook of life was shaped by that turbulent environment. Perhaps that is why I resorted to paint although I have never had formal art education until I left Eritrea. I have been painting since then and writing poems and most of my works seem to reflect life, people and nature’.