With 20 to watch, Flanders DC presents twenty emerging talents, who recently took their first steps in the worlds of design or fashion. We believe they will have great success in the future.

Who is Hussein Shikha?

• studied visual arts at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp (KASK Antwerpen), and did postgraduate research in art and design at Sint Lucas Antwerpen
• moved from Iraq to Antwerp in 2009
• did residencies at Z33 and the Frans Masereel Centre

I pay tribute to South Iraqi carpet art through my work. I philosophise about the world from the perspective of the carpet as an undervalued object. In this way, modernism – in which ornament is almost a crime – starkly contrasts the chaos of the carpet. At the same time, we have lost the ability to read the symbols on a carpet. The intrinsically local anchoring of tapestry art also starkly contrasts some Western designs.

The categories of “art” and “design” mean nothing to me. Like the carpet makers, I just do my thing. The term “multidisciplinary artist” is perhaps the most appropriate. Although that also includes commissioned work. Above all, I want to tell stories with my work. The fact that I can do that through different disciplines is magical. For example, seeing how my digital design was transformed into a tactile object in the Textile Museum in Tilburg was fantastic. It radiated pure joy, while carpets simultaneously evoke personal memories of the American invasion.

I also experiment with new technologies, such as animation and games. I look for the potential of the symbols in movement in them. The fascinating thing about a game is that it allows you to tell a story and use it to create an entire universe.