Abstract
For this exhibition a typographic piece was designed to be placed on the main door of the University for the Creative Arts in Farnham and a series of videos were projected within a video installation in the Foyer Gallery of the university. The aim of the exhibition is to offer a new and native insight of the subject of war in Syria to the local English viewer.
The content of the typographic design is called 'My Homeland'; the national anthem of Palestine written by Ibrahim Toukan and adopted by Iraq and most recently by Syria. An interesting move by the people of these countries most likely because of the common human and national tragedies all those nations are suffering from. The anthem inspired one of the videos that carries the same title. The calligraphy I used to produce it is a Damascene font called 'Codoba'; one of my favourite calligraphies that I practiced mastering when I was studying Arabic calligraphy at the Fine Art University in Damascus back in 2003 until 2007.
The video installation on the other hand introduces the audience to personal stories of Syrians who suffered the consequences of the war and reveal a unique perspective on the subject. For these videos a number of interviews were conducted and an extensive contextual research into middle eastern and political art.
The content of the typographic design is called 'My Homeland'; the national anthem of Palestine written by Ibrahim Toukan and adopted by Iraq and most recently by Syria. An interesting move by the people of these countries most likely because of the common human and national tragedies all those nations are suffering from. The anthem inspired one of the videos that carries the same title. The calligraphy I used to produce it is a Damascene font called 'Codoba'; one of my favourite calligraphies that I practiced mastering when I was studying Arabic calligraphy at the Fine Art University in Damascus back in 2003 until 2007.
The video installation on the other hand introduces the audience to personal stories of Syrians who suffered the consequences of the war and reveal a unique perspective on the subject. For these videos a number of interviews were conducted and an extensive contextual research into middle eastern and political art.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Publication status | Published - Oct 2016 |
| Event | My Homeland - Foyer Gallery, Farnham, United Kingdom Duration: 5 Sept 2016 → … |
Bibliographical note
-On the opening night (05.09.2016) I delivered a lecture to contextualise the work on display, which was attended by about fifty students of the UCA university as well as a number of people from the public.-My Homeland video included in this exhibition was also screened in Athena Cinema, Ohio, US in Oct. 2018
http://athenacinema.com/syrianidentityandhomeland/
-The exhibition expenses were funded by the University for the Creative Arts in 2016.
