Born in Baghdad in 1966, Mahmoud Obaidi is an Iraqi painter, sculptor and installation artist. Trained at Baghdad University, he moved during the 1991 Gulf War to Canada where he pursued his studies in fine arts at the Guelph University. He subsequently earned degrees in new media and film in Toronto and Los Angeles.

Obaidi uses a provocative and ironic approach to tackle contemporary issues such as wars, migrations, racism and terrorism through a multi-faceted collection of pieces including the installations How not to look at a Terrorist and Fair Skies that were acquired by Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha. His work has been exhibited in many venues across the globe. He was a guest artist at the National Pavilion of Grenada at the 2017 Venice Art Biennale and was featured in Theater of Operations. The Gulf Wars 1991–2011 at New York’s MoMA PS1 in 2019.

In the late 1980s, during the Iraq-Iran War, Obaidy initiated a long-term series that was very political. For obvious safety reasons, he decided not to name it. When the paintings were ready to be shown, Shakir Hassan Al-Said, who was presenting the project, visited the artist’s studio and asked about the titles. “There are no titles”, said Obaidy. “You cannot leave such an accomplishment without a title. Choose whatever you want!”, replied Al-Said. Subsequently, Obaidy closed his eyes, picked randomly two words from a magazine, and got “Cats” and “Factory”. During the exhibition at Baghdad’s National Museum of Modern Art in 1990, a prominent art critic said: “When you walk into Obaidy’s show, you really feel like you are in a cat factory”.

Executed in 1989, this painting was one of the first of the series. It was reworked and dated in 1991.