When Iraqi artist Ali Eyal was nine years old, his mother took him and his siblings to an amusement park in Baghdad. She ushered them onto the Ferris wheel and told them to take in the view of the city, urging them to burn that image into their minds. It would be the last time alieyalnostudio saw his homeland as a peaceful place. Days later, the United States launched its 2003 invasion of Iraq, the beginning of a nearly nine-year war that would rewrite Eyal’s life. “We were kids, and I didn’t understand that gesture from her,” Eyal said in an interview with reneereizman, “but now it’s resonating. Sometimes you need time to understand simple gestures. It takes years to detect them.” This memory is the basis for Eyal’s new oil painting, “Look Where I Took You” (2026), which debuted at the Whitney Biennial on Sunday. To read Renée Reizman’s profile of Eyal for Hyperallergic, visit our link in bio. . . . Ali Eyal, “Look Where I Took You” (2026), oil on canvas (photo Lakshmi Rivera Amin/...