At home in the world Syrian contemporary art
It took a brutal war to bring Syrian art to the world's attention. Forged in the heat of the conflict, it variously shocked or satirized, with modern imagery or objects fashioned from rough materials.
With the war came waves of change and migration. Some artists in exile stopped working altogether, while others moved to Berlin, Paris and Beirut and continued making art.
One of these artists, Sulafa Hijazi, sees no before or after, only a continuum of work on the human experience and digital culture – ideas she developed at home, which resonate in the wider world.
By contrast, the craggy little boats created from bicycle mudguards and filled with burnt matchsticks by Issam Kourbaj, encapsulate another universal quality – human frailty. This artwork was recently installed as Object 101 in the BBC series A History of the World in 100 Objects.
Together with writer Malu Halasa, Kourbaj and Hijazi discuss their work in the new British Museum exhibition, Reflections: contemporary art of the Middle East and North Africa (11 February – 15 August 2021). They'll be joined by art historian and independent curator Dr Charlotte Bank who'll discuss her recent book, The Contemporary Art Scene in Syria: Social Critique and an Artistic Movement.
More information about the exhibition can be found here: https://www.britishmuseum.org/exhibitions/reflections-contemporary-art-middle-east-and-north-africa
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Image credit:
'Alshaab Alsori Aref Tarekh' (The Syrian People Know Their Way), c. 2011. Funded by the Contemporary and Modern Middle East Art (CaMMEA) acquisitions group.Credit: British Museum Events