Artwork about Failaka

Failaka is a small island off the coast of Kuwait. It has been occupied by various civilizations throughout its history but today is largely abandoned due to the 1990 Gulf War. The oldest archaeological evidence of settlement dates to the Third Dynasty of Ur. Around 2000 BCE, the kingdom of Dilmun in modern-day Bahrain controlled the island, using it as part of a powerful trading network linking Mesopotamia, Magan, and the Indus River Valley. There is also evidence of Kassite, Neo-Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian, and Achaemenid contact or rule. Around 300 BCE, Failaka became part of the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire, which built the famous Temple A, featured on Kuwait’s 1 KD note. During the late Sasanian period, Nestorian monks from the Church of the East settled at Al-Qusur. The period after this is a bit shadowy. In the 1600s, at a site along the coast known as Al-Quraniyah, Portuguese soldier-merchants may have inhabited a small fort. Others theorize it was Arab pirates who attacked the shipping lanes in the Gulf. Portuguese maps called the island Ilha de Aguada (“Island of the Well”), likely referring to its fresh water. By the 1800s, Failaka had five villages, though plague in 1831 likely led the population to consolidate at Al-Zor. Before oil, islanders farmed and participated in the pearl diving season. Formal archaeology began in 1958, revealing the island’s rich past, while Failaka also became a popular tourist destination. When Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, about 5,800 residents were forced to evacuate as Iraqi forces occupied the island. Although liberated the following year, the damage prevented the community from fully returning. Today, archaeological missions continue, tourism has begun to recover, but the scars of war remain. As Jehan Rajab wrote in the 1990s, “it is not the first time Failaka has been deserted and doubtless it will come to life once again and thrive once more.”

According to an article by Melissa Gronlund, “these two linocuts, by Kuwaiti artist Thuraya Al Baqsami, evoke ancient mythology, showing the meld of civilisations historically in the Gulf and within the artist’s own life. They were made while she was staying on the Kuwaiti island of Failaka, about 20 kilometres off the coast of Kuwait City, and reference the Greek seals that were found on the island – Failaka was colonised by the Greeks during the reign of Alexander the Great.”

Included in the 2008 work The Danish Archaeological Expedition to Kuwait, it is captioned “drawing of the Failaka excavations in 1960 made by a pupil from the school in Zor. In the foreground, a doorway in the Hellenistic fortified town at Tell F5 with the archaeologists Erling albrectsen smoking his pipe. To the left, the architect Steffen Fisker wiht a knife in the belt, smoking his cigarette, supervising the excavation: earth from the excavation trenches is being carried away in baskets. In the background, left, the house of Sheikh Ahmed Al Jaber Al Sabah on top of Tell F3, and right, the village of Zor and the setting sun in the west towards the mainland.”

Other works from pre-war Failaka

This jewelry comes from Bahrain and is inspired by Dilmunite Seals, so while not explicitly about Failaka, there is a clear connection. The first pendant was for sale on worthpoint and was purchased by an American woman who lived in Bahrain in the 1980s. The second pendant was for sale on ebay – another is posted on this website (which actually cites my blog!!). The third also for sale on ebay. The fourth from here. The fifth was listed for sale by Bijoux Jewelry in Bahrain for 199 BD.

The earrings come from this French designer who writes, “the Failaka earrings were designed as a souvenir from a mythical land mostly deserted today, but where a a few donkeys (and a handful of people) still live. Playful and delightfully weird, they are meant to shimmer on your ears – and in your mind.” Ghaya Jewelry sells a pendant inspired by the columns from the Hellenistic temple on the island.

From the work Al-Bahrain: De danske ekspeditioner til oldtidens Dilmun published by Peter Vilhelm Glob in 1968, depicting the Al Khidr shrine

By Dana Al Rashid, also depicting the shrine. On this post I have included animations made by Dana of various artifacts uncovered on the island

By Philip Kamble, based on the photo of the shrine taken by Freya Stark in 1937

In 2025, Alymamah Rashed collaborated with Christian Dior to reimagine the Lady Dior bag. According to this article, “for her first design, her muse was a washed-up seashell she had found on the shore of Failaka Island, off the coast of Kuwait. ‘The island is steeped in myth and folklore, which are recurring elements in my work,’ shares Rashed. This seashell, along with a small pebble, became her first subjects – ‘both humble, yet eternal forms,’ she explains.”