'Alufuq' (Horizon) Magazine: In the seventies, you were one of the artists who created what is known as the "Group of Five". What is the artistic vision that brought you together with Mahmoud Taha, Yasser Dweik, Nasr Abdel Aziz, and Karam Nimri?

Aziz Amoura: Yasser Dweik and I have a very strong, old, and intimate friendship. We studied together in Baghdad; Yasser Dweik, Mahmoud Taha (who studied ceramics), and I. We met there and lived together in the Mahmoud Taha's studio in Amman. Nasr Abdel Aziz lived with us too, and Karam Nimri came from Damascus when he finished his studies and we became one group. There is one thought and life experience that brings us together. I am still an advocate of art collectives as they are stronger, in my opinion, than institutions, associations, and unions, at igniting and pushing forward the fine arts movement. If we look at some of the arab countries and western countries we find that it is a collective of artists working with one idea or in one manner that creates an art movement in those countries. For example, in the school of Iraqi art, the art collectives in Iraq are those that moved art, not a fine arts association. This is what creates competition and grows the status of art.

- Excerpt from an interview between Fakhri Saleh for 'Alufuq' (Horizon) magazine, 1985
Translated from the Arabic

Aziz Amoura: 35 Years in Art, exhibition catalog published by Darat al Funun - The Khalid Shoman Foundation - 2002