Living histories: recent

acquisitions of works on

paper by contemporary

Arab artists 5 June – 22 October 2017

Room 34

Free

The Syrian People Know Their Way

Following the uprisings in Syria 2011, an

anonymous collective of Syrian artists was

established working under the name of Alshaab

alsori aref tarekh (The Syrian People Know Their

Way). They produced posters which provide an

insight into the ideas present at the beginning of

the revolution. With dramatic images and strongly

worded text in Arabic, they testify to a moment

filled with hope for change. The posters displayed

are from a group of 68 posters made between

2011 and 2014 and acquired by the Museum.

Produced digitally they circulated online via

social media, for activists to download, print and

carry on demonstrations.

This display highlights recent acquisitions of

posters, prints, drawings, photographs and artists’

books. Many of the artists come from Syria, their

work produced following the uprisings that began

in 2011 that have since resulted in full scale civil

war. The British Museum collects art such as this

in keeping with its role as a museum of history.

These works speak of their time – they invite the

viewer to look at the troubled politics of the Middle

East today through a lens that is different from the

world of the immediacy of media reports.

Also included in the display is an installation called

Scars by Cambridge-based Syrian artist Issam

Kourbaj. The starting point for this work was

misshapen pottery from 12th–13th-century Aleppo

from the Museum’s collection, now juxtaposed with

drawings and repurposed objects highlighting

the plight of Syrians today.

The acquisitions are made possible by the Patrons’

group (CaMMEA), Art Fund and a number of

generous donations.

Alshaab Alsori Aref Tarekh (The Syrian People Know Their Way), Baba Amr,

2016,6034.20. Funded by CaMMEA.

Alshaab Alsori Aref Tarekh (The Syrian People Know Their Way),

Prepare for Rebellion. Poster, 2011. 2016,6034.35. Funded by CaMMEA.

Alshaab Alsori Aref Tarekh (The Syrian People Know Their Way),

Self-defence is a legal right. Digital print on archival paper printed from digital files.

2016,6034.26. Funded by CaMMEA.

Alshaab Alsori Aref Tarekh (The Syrian People Know Their Way), Their adhan

(call to prayer) silences the sound of our nawa’ir (water wheels). Digital print on

archival paper printed from digital files. 2016,6034.51. Funded by CaMMEA.

Alshaab Alsori Aref Tarekh (The Syrian People Know Their Way), Freedom. Digital

print on archival paper printed from digital files. 2016,6034. Funded by CaMMEA.

Alshaab Alsori Aref Tarekh (The Syrian People Know Their Way), They struggled for

our sake. Let’s struggle for their freedom. 2016,6034.12. Funded by CaMMEA.

Jaber Al Azmeh (b. 1973)

Al Azmeh was born and brought up in Damascus

and studied Fine Arts-visual communications at the

University of Damascus. A professional

photographer since 1998, he currently lives in

Qatar. He began the Resurrection series in 2011,

at the beginning of the Syrian uprisings, when he

photographed a network of Syrian journalists,

poets, artists and actors in both public and private

areas in Syria and abroad. He asked them to hold

a copy of the official government newspaper, al-

Ba’ath (meaning resurrection), upside down and

write on it. In each case, the individual creates a

message using the newspaper to voice opinions of

the situation in their home country.

Youssef Abdelke (b. 1951)

Youssef Abdelke is one of Syria’s most prominent

artists. He was born in Qimishli on Syria’s north-

eastern border, and studied at the college of Fine

Arts, University of Damascus, at the Ecole

Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts, Paris, and

has a doctorate in Fine Art from the University of

Paris VIII, where he has lived since the 1980s.

While his early work consisted of cartoons and

large-scale figures, his work of recent years is in

greys and blacks often featuring still life. The fish in

the tank symbolises the sense of entrapment felt

by Syrians as a result of the current conflict.

His other works in the Museum are 1993,0301,0.1,

1993,0301,0.2, 2011,6002.1 and 2011,6002.2.

Sardine. Charcoal on paper, 2014.2017,6008.1. Funded by CaMMEA.

From top: Rami Ali (fashion designer) ‘From now on we will wear what we sew.’

2017,6009.4. Alma Entabli (journalist) ‘The mask has fallen.’ 2017,6009.3.

Yara Sabri (actor), ‘We want them. We want them all.’ 2017,6009.1.

Youssef Abdalke (artist). 2017,6009.2. Photos printed on cotton rag art archival

paper, 2012. Acquired through The Art Fund Collection of Middle Eastern

Photography at the British Museum and Victoria and Albert Museum.

Sulafa Hijazi (b. 1977)

’I wanted this artwork to be about any conflict

situation with accompanying humanitarian issues.

However, these illustrations were born out of my

experiences in Syria.’

Sulafa Hijazi, born and brought up in Damascus, is

a multimedia digital artist and filmmaker. She

studied at the Higher Institute of the Dramatic Arts

in Syria and at the Stadelschule Art Academy in

Frankfurt, Germany, where she now lives. The first

female director of animated film in Syria, Hijazi’s

current work focuses on the impact of conflict on

children. In 2012 she won the Golden Prize, Best

Animation Film, at the 7th International Children’s

Film Festival, Bangalore, for her film The Jasmine

Birds, which you can watch online at

youtube.com/watch?v=1CFBE6kTuKk

For other works by Hijazi, see 2016,6050.1,

2016,6050.2, 2016,6050.3, 2016,6050.5 and

2016,6050.6.

Ongoing series, digital print on archival paper. 2016,6050.4. Funded by CaMMEA.

Fadi Yazigi (b. 1966)

Yazigi is a sculptor and painter born and brought

up in Damascus and studied at the Faculty of Fine

Arts, Damascus University. His figurative drawings

with their distorted figures often revolve around

daily life activities in Syria. ‘I aim to capture

people’s emotions and expressions, be it

happiness or sadness.’

Continuing to live in Damascus, Yazigi points to

the positives, which include Syria’s wonderful light

and the fact that, above all, the country is still his

home. ‘Maybe there are no longer any birds here,

but I’m still trying to capture a mood… I can’t stop

working; art is not only part of my survival – it’s

also a way of looking for a solution.’

Untitled. Mixed media on rice paper, 2012. 2016,6048.1. Funded by CaMMEA.

Photo Wafai Naily.

Azza Abo Rabieh (b. 1980)

Abo Rabieh says of her work: ‘I needed to do

something to express my feelings about people's

suffering… I do that through art and I was

influenced by Goya, but ordinary art was not

enough so eventually I started to help deliver

humanitarian aid to people in neighbourhoods that

were under siege.’

From Hama in central Syria, Abo Rabieh studied

printmaking at the Faculty of Arts Damascus

University and in 2006 won first prize in the annual

youth exhibition in Damascus.

For other works by Abo Rabieh, see 2014,6017.1-2.

Our Revolution is on the boot of our government from the series Syrian Book.

Etching on paper, 2011. 2014,6052.1. Funded by CaMMEA.

Houmam Al Sayed (b. 1981)

From Masyaf in northwest Syria, Al Sayed is a

sculpture graduate of the Institute of Applied Arts,

Damascus. From large canvases to sketches, he

makes playful renderings often featuring individual

lonely figures. Here he alludes to the sphinx with a

human head and a lion body. ‘The characters that I

illustrate are examples of the people who have

been living in this region for centuries.’

Untitled. Pen on paper, 2009. 2017,6010.1, Funded by CaMMEA.

Hamid Sulaiman (b. 1986)

From the village of Zabadani, close to the border

with Lebanon, Sulaiman studied Architecture and

Fine Arts at the University of Damascus. Since

leaving Syria he has used cartoon-like images to

evoke the life of people caught up in the Syrian

civil war. Here children demonstrating with

placards are behind an aerial view of a city.

‘Children… don't play hide and seek anymore…

they have learnt from what they have seen

around them that hiding is no longer a game

suited to their lives.’

For other works by Sulaiman, see 2014,6016.1,

2014,6016.2 and 2014,6016.3.

Untitled II. Ink on paper, 2012. 2014, 6016.4. Funded by CaMMEA.

Ziad Dalloul (b. 1953)

‘We are accustomed to saying: Damascus does

not sleep, and we also say when she sleeps, her

slumber is as light as a dream… Damascus you

are our life – but what is this life that gives us only

death?’ (from fi hidhn abjadiyya thaniyya (In the

bosom of a second alphabet, 1993) by Adonis.

Through the poetry of Syrian born poet Adonis

(Ali Ahmad Said), in Kitab al-Mudun (the book of

cities) Dalloul explores nine cities (Paris, San’a,

Beirut, Marrakech and Fez, Cairo, Damascus,

Petra, New York and Granada) each accompanied

by an engraving. Dalloul is from Suweida in

southern Syria, studied at the Faculty of Fine Arts

in Damascus, and has lived in Paris since 1984.

Kitab-al Mudun. Etchings and mixed media. 1999. 2017,6008.7.

Funded by CaMMEA.

Rachid Koraïchi (b. 1947)

On 21 May 1996, seven monks were assassinated

in the monastery of Tibhirine in Algeria. Rachid

Koraïchi created these seven volumes to pay

tribute to the monks. His goal in making this work

was to provide a humanistic response to hatred

and intolerence in general. By calling this series

Les Sept Dormants, he is referring to the story of

the Seven Sleepers, a group of young Christians

who fled from persecution from the Roman

emperor Decius by hiding in a cave with their dog

Qitmir, and woke up several hundred years later.

Their story is told in the Qur'an (chapter 18:9-16).

Their names, derived from the Greek, appear

on amulets.

Born in Aïn Beïda, Algeria, Koraïchi studied at the

Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts in

Algiers and Paris. His work often features Arabic

script, magical signs and symbols.

Other works by Koraïchi in the British Museum

include 2016,6059.1-22, 2016,6058.1,

2005,0709,0.3, Af2004,02.1-22, Af1997,08.2 and

1992,0303,0.1.

Les Sept Dormants, Artist book, etchings and calligraphy, 2003. 2016,6057.1-7.

Gift of the artist, facilitated by Rose Issa.

Ammar Dawood (b. 1957)

Painter, sculptor and graphic artist Dawood studied

fine arts and animation in Baghdad and Sweden.

For Dawood ‘painting is a kind of liberation and a

thrilling road, even if that road is sometimes

bumpy.’ He explores his individual style,

experimenting with collage and painting technique

in this artist book, a medium favoured by many

Iraqi artists.

Artist’s Book. Handmade artist’s book in mixed media, 2006. 2017.6006.2.

Gift of Dia al-Azzawi.

Mahmoud Obaidi (b. 1966)

Iraqi-Canadian artist Obaidi left Iraq in 1999 and

has made much work on the subject of ‘homeland.’

This book developed following his realisation that

‘all our days are spent in the hope that one day we

will see our homeland or we will return to our

homeland. Homelands may be a deception or a

trap… I do not know what homeland means…

I believe that all countries are homelands for their

inhabitants, so why should they not be homelands

for me?’ The book is accompanied by a metal

suitcase as a home for the book, emphasising the

title of the series, Compact Home.

Compact Home 7. Handmade artist’s book in mixed media, 2005–2015.

2017,6006.3. Gift of Dia al-Azzawi.

Dia al-Azzawi (b. 1939)

One of Iraq’s most influential artists, al-Azzawi

studied Archaeology and Fine Art in Baghdad.

He is passionate about book art and has worked

with a number of poets including the Syrian-born

poet Adonis (Ali Ahmad Said). The words of the

poem overlay the colourful background.

The opening of the poem:

A horizon – a mixture of lights and colours

No divide between earth and sky,

And space has the shape of a staircase

Like a musical scale.

O winds of meaning

Forever going up and down

Do you ever get tired?

Peace unto that dawn

Whose hands get chafed climbing the

first steps.

For other works by al-Azzawi, see 2007,6007.1

and 1990,1123,0.1.

Colour-Light, Shadow of Speech; Speech-Light, Shadow of Colour. Handmade

artist’s book in mixed media, 2000. 2017,6006.1. Gift of the artist.

Issam Kourbaj (b. 1963)

Kourbaj, from Suweida in southern Syria, trained at

the Institute of Fine Arts in Damascus, the Repin

Institute of Fine Arts in Leningrad (St Petersburg)

and at Wimbledon School of Art (London). Since

1990, he has lived and worked in Cambridge,

becoming a Bye-Fellow (2007–2011) and Artist-in-

Residence at Christ’s College, where he is also a

Lector in art.

Scars: an installation by Issam Kourbaj

Inspired by two misshapen pottery jugs (wasters)

from medieval Aleppo in the Museum’s collection,

this installation, made up of four individual

elements, is a reflection on the current crisis in

Syria. Along with the Aleppo vessels, a twisted

typewriter, which speaks of the siege of Homs, and

a sketchbook, set the scene for why so many

Syrians are leaving their homeland. Dark Water,

Burning World, miniature boats with burnt

matchsticks, encapsulate the pain of that journey,

while Lost, repurposed clothes dipped in plaster

with text in Arabic and Greek, conjure the memory

of children lost while attempting to reach the

shores of Lesbos.

Dark Water, Burning World, 2016.

Kourbaj juxtaposes 3D models of 5th-century BC

Syrian boats in the Fitzwilliam’s permanent

collection with boats repurposed from the

mudguards of old bicycles and burned

matchsticks. He works with the poet Ruth Padel

whose words accompany the installation:

‘and their stories our stories,

steered by the small star-light of cell phones

waves like rings of a tree rings of the centuries

rocking and spilling on the windy sea

as if water kept its shape after the jug has broken

one shining petrified moment before the shattered

pieces fall away.’ (Ruth Padel)

Lost. Repurposed clothes dipped in plaster with text in Arabic and Greek, 2016.

Made from the clothing of a young girl and boy, cut

to form from the rigid surface of the plaster. These

hold the ghost of their past echoing gravestones.

Many of the graves of the Syrians drowned at sea

contain the words ‘unknown’.

Heba Y Amin (b. 1980)

From the series Objects in Exile, Amin highlights

the movement of objects in times of economic

crisis or political violence. Taken in the Fayoum

region of Egypt, the photograph alludes to the

looting of antiquities from ancient sites.

Born in Egypt, Amin is a visual artist, researcher

and lecturer, and currently teaching at Bard

College, Berlin.

Antiquity Thieves. Archival pigment photograph, 2014. 2017,6011.1.

Donated by the artist and Zilberman Gallery.

Acknowledgements

CAMMEA

Thanks to the support of the Contemporary and

Modern Middle Eastern Art acquisitions group

(CaMMEA) and other generous donors the

Museum now has a growing collection of over

200 established and emerging artists from across

the region, either living in the countries of their

birth or in diaspora.

The Art Fund Collection of Middle Eastern

Photography at the British Museum and

Victoria and Albert Museum

Since 2009, Art Fund has supported the

acquisition by the British Museum and the V&A of

photographs by Middle Eastern artists. In 2012–13,

many of these were shown in Light from the Middle

East at the V&A with a version entitled True to Life:

New Photography of the Middle East, later shown

at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery in 2014.

The work of Jaber Al Azmeh is one of a group of

nine artists recently acquired by the Museum with

Art Fund support. The others are Lydia

Ouhrahmane, Leila Alaoui, Nidhal Chamekh, Héla

Ammar, Jamal Penjwaney, Hengameh Golestan,

Newsha Tavakolian and Amy Kat.

Further reading

Adonis and Darwish, M, Victims of a Map:

A Bilingual Anthology of Arabic Poetry

(London, 2005)

Attasi, M (ed.), Contemporary Art in Syria

1898–1998 (Damascus, 1998)

Azzawi, D, Dia Al-Azzawi: Retrospective

(Dubai, 2009)

Dawood, A, Amar Dawood: Al Hallaj and the

Tawasin (Dubai, 2013)

Halasa, M, Omareen, Z, and Mahfoud, N (eds.),

Syria Speaks: Art and Culture from the Front Line

(London, 2014)

Heba Amin

hebaamin.com

Issam Kourbaj

issamkourbaj.co.uk

Jaber Al Azmeh

jaberalazmeh.com

Koraichi, R, and Darwish, M, Une nation en exil:

Hymnes graves suivi de La Qasida de Beyrouth

(Arles, 2010)

Koraichi, R, Les Sept Dormants (Paris, 2004)

Obaidi, Mahmoud and Qatar Museums,

Fragments: An Exhibition by Mahmoud Obaidi

(Qatar, 2016)

Fadi Yazigi

fadiyazigi.com

Yazigi, F, Bread of the Gods (Beirut, 2015)

All images © the artists, reproduced by permission.