My Art, My people The first Assyrian art book published by a native Assyrian artist; My Art, My People is a collection of paintings spanning the last 25 years. My journey began while living under oppression in Iraq. The long five years I served in the army during the Iraq-Iran war, the departure from my homeland to the west, and the struggle we endured building a new life in the United States. My work is a reflection of my people, the sanctions against Iraq, the invasion of my homeland, and the daily attacks against the Christian minorities. They faced the bombing of our churches, a century-long diaspora, and most recently the invasion of the radical Islamic groups like Isis leading to the desecration of Nineveh and Khabour. It's hard to believe all these events happened over such a short period of time. This has not been a nightmare, rather a hard reality of oppression and terror for over a hundred years. We are from a land where the majority considers us infidels, which has justified the countless times our lands and homes have been stripped away. I narrate the genocide against my people using colors and a canvas. But I also illustrate our homeland Mesopotamia, our culture, and our love for peace and freedom.

My Art, My people The first Assyrian art book published by a native Assyrian artist; My Art, My People is a collection of paintings spanning the last 25 years. My journey began while living under oppression in Iraq. The long five years I served in the army during the Iraq-Iran war, the departure from my homeland to the west, and the struggle we endured building a new life in the United States. My work is a reflection of my people, the sanctions against Iraq, the invasion of my homeland, and the daily attacks against the Christian minorities. They faced the bombing of our churches, a century-long diaspora, and most recently the invasion of the radical Islamic groups like Isis leading to the desecration of Nineveh and Khabour. It's hard to believe all these events happened over such a short period of time. This has not been a nightmare, rather a hard reality of oppression and terror for over a hundred years. We are from a land where the majority considers us infidels, which has justified the countless times our lands and homes have been stripped away. I narrate the genocide against my people using colors and a canvas. But I also illustrate our homeland Mesopotamia, our culture, and our love for peace and freedom.

Paul Batou, a Mesopotamian artist, received a pharmaceutical degree from the University of Baghdad; however, art always remained his most enduring passion. Batou's first art show took place in Baghdad in 1980. His career was on hold in 1982 after serving a mandatory five-year deployment as an Iraq Army medic during the Iran-Iraq war. After the war ended in 1988, Paul left Iraq with his family initially migrating to Athens as refugees, and eventually made his way to Los Angeles. In the United States, Paul Batou continued his passion for creating art and writing poetry. In 2007, he published his first book, "My Last Thoughts About Iraq", which served as a personal reflection of war, sanctions, the fall of the great ancestral civilizations within Mesopotamia. His work has been featured in numerous publications and galleries across the world. This book, "My Art, My People", is his contribution to all those who love art and humanity. Celebrate the colors of Mesopotamia