Ruba Yaseen is a ceramic artist living in Hamilton, Ontario and working out of her home studio. Her line of functional, handmade stoneware is inspired by migration stories and ancient Mesopotamian motifs. 

Ruba grew up in constant migration, moving from her birthplace in rural Saudi Arabia to civil-war-era Lebanon and then to Baghdad where she spent her teenage years and early adulthood, and eventually to the United Arab Emirates and Canada. As a child she became enraptured by the arts surrounding her in 70s Baghdad, where the modern art scene were flourishing in the public sphere. The work of Jawad Selim, Dia Al-Azzawi, Hassan Shaker Al Said and others imprinted on her imagination, as did her travels, especially a visit to Alhambra palace in Granada, Spain. 

It was Ruba’s dream to enter the Fine Arts College in Baghdad, but constraining conditions did not allow her to realize that dream. It was not until 2002, after having migrated twice again since the sanctions, war and invasion of Iraq, now with her husband and two young children, that Ruba enrolled at the Sharjah Arts Institute. For three years, she studied oil painting, sketching, Arabic calligraphy, lino printing, watercolour, and sculpture; but she fell in love with ceramics. For the next four years, she would participate in student exhibitions, trying every new material, style and technique she could get her hands on. She was mentored by Iraqi potters Riyadh Matwq and Wisam Alsamad.

In 2008, Ruba and her family were uprooted by yet another migration, this time to Ontario, Canada, where she still resides. In 2009 she enrolled in Mohawk College to study pottery, including hand-building and wheel. She began to showcase her work amongst family and close friends, and slowly started to invest in a small studio at home.

Thus, “A Bird From East” was born, drawing inspiration from stories of migration and the process of making homes. For Ruba, the bird represents her own life of constant movement and forward momentum, always oriented by the point of departure.