Joy

Among the many public artworks at the Des Moines Marina is a striking human figure carved into stone. Facing the sea, near the famous groundwork Compass Rose, it's an image you can't miss. Though we see only the figure's upper body, her position exudes strength and triumph, with one arm reaching upward, her chest lifted to the sky. This is Joy by Sabah Al-Dhaher, a Seattle-based artist who came to the U.S. from Iraq as a political refugee in 1993. It is part of a series called “Labyrinth to Joy," which expresses his life's journey.

"As Seattle became home to me, I came into a much more joyful period, because I unloaded all that stuff that I held that had to do with the war," says Al-Dhaher. "Now I have more of a focus on having the movement in the body to breathe.”

To create the sculpture, he carved a large basalt column weighing nearly 1,500 pounds. Then, he made three bronze casts, doing all the molding, casting, and foundry work himself at Pratt Institute. Like many of his figures, it is unintentionally left in an unfinished state, as if it were a vision emerging from a dream.

About the Artist:
Sabah Al-Dhaher is a sculptor and painter who received his formal training at the Institute for Fine Arts in Basra, Iraq. Since coming to the U.S. as a political refugee in 1993, he has made his home in Seattle. In addition to maintaining his studio, Sabah teaches stone carving at the Pratt Fine Arts Center in Seattle.