When you paint the powerful as vulnerable
In his work, Syrian artist Abdalla Al Omari portrays world leaders in the same light as the refugees from Syria. People don’t connect with numbers, they do with faces, he told us in an interview
If a picture could really tell a thousand words, the Syrian Civil War would command a tome of its own. Be it the gut-wrenching image of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi lying dead on the Mediterranean shores or the shocked, injured and ash-covered face of four-yearold Omran Daqneesh, these are images that have turned into symbols of the refugee crisis. As we put faces to the oft-quoted numbers, the impact of the discourse sharpens, a fact that Belgium-based Syrian artist Abdalla Al Omari is aware of. In his new series, he gives the refugee crisis — an experience the once Damascus-based artist has lived himself — an incisive tweak by attempting to put world leaders in the shoes of Syrian refugees. Today, the Vulnerability series is receiving international attention for its clever attempt at subversion of power dynamics. In an interview with
Khaleej Times, the 31-year-old artist talks about the ideas and ideologies that inform his works.
When did you come up with the idea for the Vulnerability series? Is it an expression of anger?
Well, initially, it did start as an expression of anger, like what any other Syrian refugee would feel. However, as an artist, I had always been intrigued by the idea of vulnerability. So as I began to paint, a desire to humanise them took over. I wanted to place these leaders outside of their positions of power and examine how much greatness they could still demonstrate. People tend to empathise with those who have had similar experiences. I don’t necessarily empathise with my subjects, but the version of them that I have painted on the canvas.
Propaganda, as you have mentioned in some of your other interviews, is an important part of the series. Do you think it subverts the idea of propaganda or ends up creating an alternative?
Primitive forms of propaganda usually work side by side with power, history, popular parties and characters. So through the Vulnerability series, I want to address the idea of how certain facts are chosen to endorse ‘popular’ narratives that eventually become the truth. Classical propaganda would continue to imagine these people as being powerful whereas I do exactly the opposite. I don’t think my works create alternative propaganda as much as they show how it works.
Which of the individual portraits is your favourite and why?
I don’t really have a favourite. But I think the closest and the easiest one for me to depict was obviously Bashar Al Assad (the Syrian President), simply because I was aware of the context, I knew the story. I feel it is my strongest work. For all the other characters, I had to do a bit of research and read about the cultural contexts they belong to.
There is global attention on the Vulnerability series and what it stands for. While it is being lauded, have you received any criticism?
With feedback on social media, it’s much easier to be harsh. So, I have not done that so far. But then someone did write to me saying that they don’t necessarily agree with my idea, which is alright.
How important a role do you think the visual arts play in putting the spotlight on the Syrian refugee crisis?
Not only art — any other profession, in general, can do that. In fact, it’s necessary to get involved in the social and political situation. We can no longer afford to alienate ourselves from the Syrian story. When you romanticise the story, take away the quantity and put quality and real narratives, there is much more connection. People don’t connect with numbers, they connect with faces.
What sort of artistic freedoms has Belgium offered you?
Firstly, it has offered me a safe haven to practise my work after being exiled and displaced. The very fact that the media here has spoken of the Vulnerability series and talked about it from the point of view of me being part of the country has been very encouraging.
As you build a life for yourself in another country, what are the memories of home you cherish the most?
It has to be my childhood. Also, there was a moment in 2011 when Syria had started prospering. The arts and the animation fields had begun to expand and there were lots of opportunities for people like us to grow because culture was the priority then. It has collapsed and will take time to heal.
What’s next for you after the Vulnerability series?
I actually have the second part of the exhibition in Hamburg that will take place towards the end of June. It’s called Vulnerability Series Extended and will happen during the G20 Summit when all the world leaders are around. In this part, there will be more sketches and paintings. It will be an important moment for the project. The Vulnerability Series is on at the Ayyam Gallery at Alserkal Avenue, Al Quoz, till July 6.
As an artist, I had always been intrigued by the idea of vulnerability. So as I began to paint, a desire to humanise them took over. I wanted to place these leaders outside of their positions of power and examine how much greatness they could still demonstrate.