Hadani Ditmars
British tourist’s 15-year prison sentence for antiquities smuggling overturned by Iraqi appeals court
James Fitton, a 66-year-old retired geologist, had been convicted of antiquities smuggling after taking pottery shards from an ancient site
Jailing of British visitor to Iraq could jeopardise tourism and soft diplomacy
After years of conflict and sanctions, heritage trips have been taking off in the area. But potential visitors may be wary after geologist Jim Fitton was given a 15-year sentence for taking “a few worthless pieces of broken pottery”
Vancouver Art Gallery gets $29m in federal funding toward future Herzog & de Meuron home
The fresh funding means the gallery has raised C$270m toward the project’s overall cost of C$400m
In new performance, artist Janice Kerbel choreographs a fight for one
Kerbel’s new solo exhibition at Catriona Jeffries gallery in Vancouver, the artist is debuting two new performance works
Scrapped: $789m plan to demolish and rebuild Canadian museum on hold amid backlash
What would have been the most expensive museum project in Canadian history is paused indefinitely due to opposition over its cost
New dam could drown ancient Iraqi city of Ashur
Having survived Islamic State, Assyrian capital is under threat once again
Nearly 20 years after the invasion of Iraq, an artist revisits the looting of the national museum in Baghdad
The Iranian-born artist Abbas Akhavan’s installation at the Contemporary Art Gallery in Vancouver re-stages a scene captured at the Iraq Museum in 2003
Canadian First Nation calls for portion of controversial $789m museum budget to be spent repatriating Indigenous artefacts
The province’s enormous expenditure to rebuild the Royal British Columbia Museum should include funding repatriation efforts, the Tseshaht First Nation says
Climate change reveals ancient city in Iraq
Worsening drought conditions have extended the period when the 3,400-year-old city of Zakhiku is above water, aiding archaeologists’ efforts to study and preserve the site
More details emerge on controversial plan to demolish and rebuild Canada's Royal British Columbia Museum
Many critics of the project remained underwhelmed by the lack of clear vision for the $789m museum
Chinese Museum in Vancouver aims to rewrite Canada’s racist history
The museum will be built on the site of the Rennie Museum in Vancouver, which focuses on contemporary art
Billion dollar upgrade of Canada's Royal British Columbia Museum met with criticism
The proposed museum replacing the current building has been called a “vanity project”
Britain's Royal Albert Memorial Museum returns artefacts to Siksika First Nation
Exeter museum has held various objects belonging to the 19th-century Blackfoot leader Chief Crowfoot since 1878
Abdulamir Al-Hamdani, the revered archaeologist and former Iraqi culture minister, has died, aged 55
Hamdani, who served as Iraq’s culture minister from 2018 to 2020, played a vital role in rescuing, restoring and cataloguing the country’s ancient heritage
‘Living history’: meet the Mosul residents rebuilding their city
Local trainees are taking up traditional stone masonry techniques as part of a major Unesco initiative to restore heritage houses damaged in the battle to liberate the Iraqi city from Isis
Unesco’s winning designs for Mosul mosque are redrawn
An international restoration plan has been revised after the foundations of an ancient prayer hall were discovered at the site of the Al-Nuri mosque
Babylon is coming back to life, with its famed Ishtar Gate to be restored by this summer
A new World Monuments Fund project in conjunction with the US embassy in Baghdad aims to repair Iraqi cultural heritage as part of the Future of Babylon project
Iraq Museum in Baghdad reopens after three-year hiatus
Treasure trove of ancient Mesopotamian heritage—ransacked after 2003 Iraq invasion—was closed during anti-government protests in 2019
Saving the art of Palestinian textiles: West Bank museum and V&A join forces to create new conservation studio
Palestinian Museum is using a $480,000 grant from the Aliph Foundation to document and conserve traditional embroidered dresses known as thobes
Sculptures vandalised by Isis return to ancient city of Hatra after restoration
Artefacts had been "smashed into pieces" by Isis militants when they occupied the Unesco World Heritage site as a training camp
Artist Johnny Bandura’s mural of residential school victims becomes tool for teaching Canada’s colonial legacy
Through partnerships with universities and a forthcoming showcase at the Parliament of British Columbia, Bandura’s 215 portraits are educating Canadians young and old
Sculptor and hereditary Haida chief James Hart wins one of Canada's top art prizes
Hart said receiving the C$100,000 ($80,000) Audain Prize is ‘part of the larger process of reconciliation’
Polar bear killed and skinned by Inuk artist Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory is honoured in her work for Sobey Art Award
The animal skin is a screen for a video installation that “celebrates the bear’s spirit”, and touches on climate change, Indigenous rights and decolonisation
Vancouver Biennale seeks donor to purchase $2m headless sculptures for the city
Only five of Magdalena Abakanowicz’s Headless Walking Figures remain outside City Hall, as demand for the artist’s work has grown
Art and architecture merge on Vancouver’s towers—but is the cultural outreach more than illusion?
Two public projects launching this week highlight the Canadian city’s booming developments, in which only a select few can afford to live
Klee Wyck, a historic home used by Emily Carr in West Vancouver, to be demolished
The property, bequeathed to the district by a physician friend of the artist for use as an arts centre, has been neglected for decades
‘What they could have become’: artist Johnny Bandura creates mural imagining the lost futures of 215 Kamloops children
The Qayqayt First Nation artist has created vivid portraits of the residential school victims whose lives were cut short
Vancouver public sculpture is for the birds no more
Stacked car installation that became a roost for local pigeons and starlings—and was covered by their poo—will be restored and eventually relocated
Joe Average unveils new mural honouring the fight against Aids in Vancouver
Marking the 40th anniversary of the first reported cases of the disease in the US, the Canadian artist and activist expands his One World, One Hope design to a city-sized work
Vancouver Biennale opens a bridge into the digital world
Voxel Bridge, by the Colombian artist Jessica Angel, turns a venerable piece of city infrastructure into a hybrid immersive art work