Syria Speaks: Art and Culture from the Frontline

by Nawara Mahfoud (Editor), Malu Halasa (Editor), Zaher Omareen (Editor)

Overview

In Syria, culture has become the critical line of defence against tyranny. Villagers have joined the cultural frontline alongside urban intellectuals, artists, writers and filmmakers and to create art and literature that challenge official narratives. With contributions by over fifty artists and writers, both established and emerging, Syria Speaks explores the explosion of creativity and free expression by the Syrian people. They have become their own publishers on the Internet and formed anonymous artists collectives which are actively working in their country's war zones. The art and writing featured in this book, including literature, poems and songs as well as cartoons, political posters and photographs, document and interpret the momentous changes that have shifted the frame of reality so drastically in Syria.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780863567926
Publisher:	Saqi Books
Publication date:	06/16/2014
Sold by:	Bookwire
Format:	eBook
Pages:	265
File size:	9 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Malu Halasa co-curated three exhibitions of Syria's art of resistance in London, Amsterdam and Copenhagen in 2012 and 2013. Her other works include 'The Secret Life of Syrian Lingerie'. Zaher Omareen is a Syrian writer, who has worked on independent cultural initiatives in Syria and Britain. He is currently completing 'Tales of the Orontes River', a collection of short stories. Nawara Mahfoud is a Syrian journalist and documentary producer who has worked for the New York Times. She blogs for the New Yorker.com, among other publications.

Table of Contents

Introduction vii Hama '82 1 Gateways to a Scorched Land, Samar Yazbek 2 Ongoing, Sulafa Hijazi 10 The Thieves' Market, Ossama Mohammed 17 Lettuce Fields, Khaled Khalifa 27 Revolution 2011; Chicken Liver, Khalil Younes 36 Between the Cultures of Sectarianism and Citizenship, Hassan Abbas 48 Banners in the Colour of the Euphrates, Kartoneh 60 The Art of Persuasion, Alshaab alsori aref tarekh & Charlotte Bank 66 The Symbol and Counter-Symbols in Syria, Zaher Omareen 84 Cartoons by Kafranbel, Photographs by Mezar Mattar 102 Mystery Shopper: Interview with Assaad al-Achi, Malu Halasa 104 Popular Collision, Omar Alassad 112 Lens Young 118 A Black Cloud in a Leaden White Sky, or Death by Stabs of Sorrow, Ali Safar 130 Literature of the Syrian Uprising, Robin Yassin-Kassab 138 Loneliness Pampers Its Victims, Dara Abdullah 145 Have You Heard the Testimonies of the Photographs, about the Killings in Syria?, Fadia Lazkani 149 Regarding the Pain of Others and Damascus 15 Feb 2012 19:47:31, Khaled Barakeh, Photographs by Jens Steingasser 157 I'm Positively Sure about the Event, Rasha Omran 165 Two Cartoons, Ali Ferzat 168 On the Intellectual and the Revolution: An interview with Yassin al-Haj Saleh 172 Cocktail, Comic4Syria 181 Lifetimes Stolen, Yara Badr 192 Letter for the Future, Mazen Darwish 202 Daily Occurrences, Mohamad Omran & Golan Haji 205 Song in the Revolution 210 'Come on Bashar, Get Out!', Qashoush 211 'Female Refugees', Monma, Al-Raas and Al Sayyed Darwish 214 The Lure of the Streets, Hani al-Sawah 220 Tashriqa: Prayer for Homs, Faraj Bayrakdar 222 From the Outside Looking In, Dan Gorman 224 Youssef from the Inside, Paintings by Youssef Abdelke, Photographs by Nassouh Zaghlouleh 235 Art & Freedom, Amer Mattar & Artists 240 Syria's Imperfect Cinema, Chad Elias & Zaher Omareen 257 Who Wants to Kill a Million?; Diaries of a Little Dictator, Masasit Mati 269 A Plate of Salmon is Not Completely Cleansed of Blood, Rasha Abbas 276 The Smartest Guy on Facebook, Aboud Saeed 279 Stencilling Martyrs 284 Acknowledgements 290 About the Contributors, Translators and Editors 291 Permissions 299 Index

Editorial Reviews

An extraordinary collection, revealing a dynamic and exciting culture in painful transition – a culture where artists are really making a difference ... You need to read this book.’ Brian Eno

‘A remarkable book – a wise, courageous, imaginative and beautiful response to all that is ugly in human behaviour.’ A.L. Kennedy

'An English Pen Award winner, this anthology forms a rich, creatively diverse motif sublimely representative of a country and its people awash in strife and insurgency.' Kirkus

‘An invaluable and deeply moving testimony to resistance ... this work clamours for liberty and turns its back not only on tyranny but on religious division’ Independent

‘A remarkable collection' The Art Newspaper

From the Publisher

2014-07-06
An emancipating exhibition from uprising artisans of Syria. Assessing the value of art and culture in Western Asia amid "such untold bloodshed," editors and Syrian journalists Halasa, Omareen and Mahfoud collect striking works of literary, photographic and hand-drawn self-expression from more than 50 talented, passionate contributors, both new and established. The opening photomontage honors victims of the 1982 Hama massacre and is followed by Samar Yazbek's searingly haunting journey through northern Syria, a devastated countryside "made of earth, blood, and fire, where explosions never ceased." Animator Sulafa Hijazi's brutally explicit "cycle of violence" artwork represents her history living in violent, revolutionary-era Syria, as do defected illustrator Khalil Younes' ink-on-paper creations. The written compositions are permeated with violence, bloodshed and familial sorrow, but also hope and resilience within a culture struggling to regain some semblance of citizenship. Amassed here is a dramatic tapestry of poster art, cartoons, inspired poetry, digital and cellphone video stills of bombed neighborhoods riskily posted to social media, and the anonymously produced finger-puppet play series "Top Goon." Syrian artistic culture has emerged as the ultimate weapon against the country's despotism, but these works also reflect a complicated revolution with fatal consequences: Graffitists like those featured in the book can be killed if caught stenciling city walls with radical countergovernmental street art—though they have devised a "secret toolkit for spray-painting quickly and surreptitiously." Unfurling from the formerly closed fist of tyrannical oppression, these pieces are emblematic of a repressed culture's innovative activism, courageously echoing the editors' belief that "creativity is not only a way of surviving the violence, but of challenging it." An English Pen Award winner, this anthology forms a rich, creatively diverse motif sublimely representative of a country and its people awash in strife and insurgency.

Kirkus Reviews