Between a lost identity and the belonging to a foreign culture As part of the Days of Exile, the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg (MKG) showed from 16 November 2018 until 13 January 2019 works by Syrian Artist Khaled Barakeh. In his work, the artist deals with long-term conflicts and their possible pacification, the experience of torture, flight and exile and how refugees cope with their war experiences, biographical breaks and with a new beginning. His approximately 20 works,Read more

Artist Khaled Al Saai – A portrait, an encounter Khaled Al Saai summarizes the history of Syria in a painting. In 2018, he has been an Artist in Residence at the Museum of Islamic Art, Pergamon Museum in Berlin. “Calligraphy is music for the eye”, writes Syrian-German author Rafik Schami in the afterword to his novel “The Secret of the Calligrapher”. “For the less”, answers Khaled Al Saai smiling, one of the ten most important calligraphers in the world. AsRead more

Ahmad Kaddour . Inspired by a Book Long Buried in the Garden As told to Hosam Aboul-Ela, Oct. 7, 2016 I left my home in Damascus for a life in Europe decades ago, long before the migrant waves of today. At the time, I was an active member of the political left in a country run by the military and the secret police, so I had no real future in Syria. But my main motive for going to Paris in my 20sRead more

A Kiss for Syria: Tammam Azzam In early 2011, Damascus was witnessing the rise of a revolution. The world was beginning to notice a rebirth occurring in the Syrian capital and from all corners of the globe, it was being watched with a wary eye. Art had seized the city and the force of this renaissance was reverberating far beyond its ancient walls. People were flying to Damascus to buy art, and Syrian artists were being flown out to exhibitRead more

A Syrian Artist Is Painting World Leaders As Refugees For An Important Reason “Those leaders who are partly responsible for the displacement of Syrians, maybe they will feel what it is to be vulnerable.” Abdalla Al Omari, a Syrian painter, filmmaker, and performance artist, is painting world leaders as refugees in an effort to humanize the ongoing refugee crisis in his home country while also casting powerful leaders in a vulnerable light. The Vulnerability Series, which was on display atRead more