Syrian sinks her teeth into a new life in Ireland

MANAR AL SHOUHA

Woman with Rice Pudding (2021)

In her school in Damascus, Manar Al Shouha drew images of war, “always they give us subject about war”. This was before the present conflict in Syria yet the teacher, even then, encouraged the class to draw “armoured vehicles, tanks.”

She had a normal upbringing – swimming, dance, art classes – until she turned 16. It was then life in a war zone, but after a course with a professional artist and with her mother’s support, she began a four-year degree in fine art at Damascus University in 2012.

She studied interior design, graphic design, print and sculpture but it was painting that won out and for her graduate show “I did 15 paintings of my family and friends” including this portrait of her great aunt. She then began a master’s degree and was a university teacher’s assistant for five years until, “like 75pc of people my age, I decided to leave Syria”.

Al Shouha is an only child, and her parents divorced when she was three. “My father left for Canada and after that I didn’t know anything about him.”

Her mother, a retired maths teacher, was anxious that her daughter would reach a place of safety and said: “What about Ireland?” She felt the Troubles meant “in Ireland they had war but not too much; a small [country] not big” and so Al Shouha travelled to Ireland seeking international protection.

Her first few years here were “so difficult, so hard” and in her studio she produced a large, dark painting that captures that time. She knew little about this country but her mother had read and done her research, and found “the people were very kind, that kindness is famous about the Irish”.

Dublin-based, Al Shouha’s mornings are spent at English language classes and afternoons in her studio at Common Ground Studios in Inchicore. She misses her mother, the summer weather in Syria but “not the wind, rain, snow of winters”.

She loves Irish pubs, “the ones for Irish, not for tourists. I drink zero alcohol. The pub here is like the cafe in Syria – it’s warm, cosy, very social”, and a recent work features three old men in a pub.

“I feel they go to a pub, they want time for themselves, away from their wives. They play cards, they have energy. They watch TV at the same time.”

She typically begins with a charcoal or oil pastel drawing on canvas. Her work is a blend of conventional and modern, while artists like Francis Bacon, Picasso, Brian Maguire and Zsolt Basti impress her. This portrait, Woman with Rice Pudding, was painted in a day.

Her grand-aunt, who speaks fluent French, once travelled widely but now lives a very confined life, as does the artist’s mother. “Syria now, you don’t know what will happen. You can’t plan. It’s like walking on land mines.”

But in Ireland Shouha has many plans. At the RHA 2023 Annual, Al Shouha won both the De Veres Award and the Contemporary Irish Arts Society Award. That led to her being shortlisted for the Hennessy Craig Award.

She has shown at Rathfarnham Castle and the Highlanes Gallery, Drogheda. And next up, she would love a solo show in Dublin.