London ( CNN ) -- To Iraqi artist Hanaa ' Malallah her shoes are weapons of mass destruction that appear in many of her works . Her inspiration is an incident in 2008 , when Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zaidi threw his shoes at former president George W. Bush , five years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq . The invasion was aimed at rooting out Saddam Hussein 's weapons of mass destruction , but U.S. inspectors eventually conceded that he did not have any . Malallah 's exhibition , `` Iraq -- How , Where , For Whom ? '' held jointly with the British duo kennardphillipps , opens in London on Friday April 20 . Her shoes appear in a photograph labeled I.W.M.D ( Iraq 's Weapon 's of Mass Destruction ) . They are also embroidered on an American flag , on an Iraqi flag , and the originals are in a glass display case . `` They are my shoes , '' said Malallah . `` I bought them after I arrived in Britain and I used them for three years . '' She added : `` Shoes are our way of resistance . It 's all we have . My resistance is through art . '' Malallah , formerly a university art lecturer in Baghdad , says she left Iraq in late 2006 after two of her colleagues were killed and she received threats from militias . She now lives in Britain . `` They started to kill a lot of academics , '' she said . `` I was a woman without a headscarf , teaching in the university and I received threats , so I had to leave . `` Two months after I left , a group of militias entered my home and stole everything . My sister called to say my flat had gone . `` I do n't have anyone left there now and I think I would lose my life just like that if I went back . It 's hard . There are no words to describe it , so I use my art to explain . '' Also on Inside the Middle East : Can Baghdad be beautiful again ? Malallah said her art reflects three decades of living with war in Iraq , from the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s through the first Gulf War in 1991 and subsequent sanctions , to the U.S.-led invasion of 2003 and the chaos that followed . Much of her work uses what she describes as the `` ruins technique , '' using burnt fabric to depict destruction , often on abstract canvases . She said she experienced the war by `` tasting '' it , as there was no electricity or media to provide information . Describing life in Baghdad since 1991 , Malallah said : `` Baghdad was heavily bombed in the First Gulf War . It was hell out of the world . I saw destruction every day and I lived with death every day . `` There was a shortage of food , water and electricity , but you have to survive . Many managed to survive and a lot did n't . Three of my students were killed working in the artistic area . `` I speak to my colleagues by phone and there are still big problems and people dying every day for lots of reasons . '' She added : `` I hated Saddam Hussein , but we were better off than now . At least there was a government . If we want to remove a dictator , we have to do it by ourselves . '' Malallah 's work is shown alongside that of the British duo kennardphillipps , Peter Kennard and Cat Phillipps , who started collaborating in late 2002 in opposition to the proposed invasion of Iraq . `` We were going on all the anti-war demos , but it was evident the invasion was going to happen anyway and we wanted to find another way to protest against it , '' said Phillipps . They create work from media images of the war , such as photo montages and collages from newspaper clippings . Their most famous work , a photomontage called `` Photo Op , '' is a digitally altered image that shows a smiling Tony Blair , the British prime minister at the time of the invasion , in front of an explosion . Also on Inside the Middle East : Artists use email scams to scoop prize . Another , called `` Presidential Seal , '' shows the American president 's empty podium , with the microphones pointing to a backdrop of newspaper clippings and photos which have been smashed with a hammer , creating an impression of debris and chaos . Malallah hopes the exhibition will eventually be shown in Iraq . She said most professional artists had fled the country , leaving a dearth of new talent . `` It 's a very bad situation for artists in Iraq at the moment , '' said Malallah . `` They have no contact with the outside world . `` There are a lot of good artists who have left the country and it has really affected those who are left . '' `` Iraq -- How , Where , For Whom ? '' opens at The Mosaic Rooms , in London , on Friday April 20 and runs until June 8 , 2012 .
Hanaa ' Malallah says she left Iran in 2003 after receiving threats from militias . Inspired by British journalist who threw his shoes at Muntadhar al-Zaidi , she says shoes are her `` resistance '' She has joint exhibition with Iraqi duo kennardphillipps .