Syrian artists in exile

An estimated 2.5 million Syrian refugees are struggling to make a living for themselves in neighboring countries. Among them there are many artists who were forced to fled ther homes.

Rabee Kiwan now lives in Beirut although, originally, he lived in Sweida, near the region where violence against the Assad regime broke off in 2011.

He explains how the political turmoil in his country affected his art: 'What changed in my work before and after the events is that I used to work on general issues, societal problems, psychological or personal issues. Now it’s more specific, sometimes relating to the events themselves and sometimes to the consequences of these events on me, people, our surroundings and the whole situation we are living in.'

Another artist who works in Beirut, Fadi al-Hamwi, was in Damascus, the Syrian capital, during the uprising. Now, far away and in a safe place, he reflects on how his art has changed: 'Now, sitting in a safe place, doing what you love, you paint, you read, write or work while you hear this sound which is simply the sound of people dying somewhere. You’re in a situation where you hear sounds from a place so close to you, but still, you can’t do anything.'

Sami Daoud is a Syrian art critic and an art gallery directow who now holds lectures in Beirut universities about art, war and expression. He details the role of an artist in a country struck by violence and chaos: 'The policies that are creating the situation in Syria, the reverence of violence, they have turned violence into something sacred. Violence has become a god. When violence becomes a god, it makes human beings primitive, barbarism re-emerges in society. What protects society against this barbarism is art in all its forms; photography, sculpture, music, poetry, everything. They preserve the human spirit in society, preserve the human seed so that in the future we can build a civil society again.'

Syrian artists now are facing a paradoxal situation: the more violence and destruction their country faces, the more appreciated their art is.