Until 31 August 2023, the Foundry art space is holding Light Through the Wounds, a group exhibition which features 14 Syrian artists: Sara Shamma, Khaled Takriti, Yagan Saad, Mohannad Orabi, Issa Kazah, Mohammad Omran, Walid El Masri, Thaer Maarouf, Manar Al Shouha, Zeina Salameh, Ahmad Tallaa, Shaza Midani, Salah Hreeb, and Mayssan Salman. Their displayed art pieces reflect how the past 12 years of struggle in Syria have shaped who its citizens have become and have diverted them from what they were supposed to be.
The participants in the show express the power of art in changing the world and their responsibility as artists to document history in a true and genuine manner. But first of all, they aim to emphasise the beauty which came out of the crisis. The artworks on view show the spectators that even in the darkest times, deep human friendships and acts of heroism and sacrifice for one another can arise.
About the participating artists
Sara Shamma (b. 1975, Damascus, Syria) is a famous painter living and working in London, UK, and whose art is deeply impacted by the Syrian conflict. In her work, she focuses on death and humanity and explores the impact of grief and internal emotions. She uses oils to create her hyper realistic self-portraits and portraits of children.
Khaled Takriti (b. 1964, Beirut, Lebanon) is a prominent artist initially trained as an architect, who resides in Paris, France. Most of his large-scale realistic paintings depict the female body. Takriti says that he has always portrayed the East as a woman in his work, “through her eyes, her soul and her stillness.”
Saad Yagan (b. 1950, Aleppo, Syria) is a key member in the development of contemporary Syrian Art; he lives in Beirut, Lebanon. Yagan chronicles the everyday life of Aleppo’s residents. His expressive works, which are mostly painted in white, reds, and blues, depict stylised human figures with elongated faces appearing worn by time. Some of the artist’s paintings depict scenes from ancient mythology and literature.
Mohannad Orabi (b. 1977, Damascus) resides in Dubai. As an artist, he is interested in the creation of art without specific guidelines: spontaneity and the liberation of forms and colours. Orabi’s mixed media paintings depict childlike figures, revealing his fascination with the evolution of consciousness in childhood. Since the start of the Syrian conflict, he has adopted a realistic approach to portraiture. Facebook profile pictures and other types of filtered or composed imagery serve as source material for his portraits of Syrians under siege, displaced, and in exile.
Mohammad Omran (b. 1979, Damascus) lives and works in France. His art practice involves sculpture, painting, and video art. He employs bronze to make sculptures, while his paintings are created using acrylic paints, ink, and markers. The main themes in Omran’s art are assemblies and crowds and the motif of the tortured human. Influenced by the Syrian war and his vision of humanity, the artist’s artworks evoke empathy, disgust, anger, and dark humour.
Thaer Maarouf (b. 1972, Shahba, Syria) is a painter based in Vienna, Austria. In his work, he uses symbolism to highlight human rights issues in the Middle East. Through his paintings, the artist also aims to draw attention to the conditions of those who are displaced as a result of the regional upheaval in the Levant.
Walid El Masri (b. 1979, Syria) resides in Paris, France. In his practice, he chooses a material subject and examines it, exploring multiple variations in depth and space through abstracted compositions. El Masri’s Cocoons series (2014-2017) was his response to the violence which broke out in Syria (he uses metamorphosis of the butterfly to present the country in its current state), while his Children series (2015) comprises works directly related to the war.
Zeina Salameh (b. 1979, Aleppo) is a visual artist and graphic designer based in Dubai. Her work incorporates painting, etching, lithography, silkscreen, linocuts, monotype, printmaking, installation, and video.
Maysan Salman (b. 1984, Tartous, Syria) is a sculptor living in Moscow, Russia. His bronze artworks display the bodily glory of man and at the same time focus on his emotions and his spirit’s frailty. Contortions in figures’ posture and faces reflect the inner struggle and possible suffering.
To get more information about Light Through the Wounds, please visit the exhibition’s official web page.
You may also be interested in visiting A country without a door or windows by Bady Dalloul, Nabil Anani’s online exhibition, and Beirut and the Golden Sixties: A Manifesto of Fragility.
