Hundreds of ceramic doves are suspended over the streets of the Old City of Damascus, part of an art installation that had been set to debut before the start of Syria’s war.
The lifelike figurines crafted by Buthaina al-Ali, a professor at Damascus University’s faculty of arts, had been gathering dust in a basement since the outbreak of Syria’s conflict in 2011.
Eleven years on, the 15,000 ceramic birds are finally airbound, appearing in an exhibition curated by al-Ali’s students on the woes of Syria’s war.
Photo: AFP
“I had dreamt of decorating the center of my city and hanging the doves in a crowded place for people to see, but the war changed everything and I had to postpone my dream all this time,” said al-Ali, 48.
The exhibition in the Old City of Damascus, curated by 16 students from the faculty of arts, is titled: “Once upon a time, a window.”
The art on display deals with the displacement, hunger and helplessness wrought by the country’s bloody civil war.
“I finally suggested to my students that they take the doves and hang them in a way they see fit,” said al-Ali, who lost two family members to the conflict.
The students placed the doves in the courtyard of a traditional Damascene home.
The Kozah art gallery in the Old City and adjacent streets were also adorned with the ceramic figurines, some of which are fitted with small LED lights.
The doves are the centerpiece of the exhibition, which features other artworks by students.
“Sadness is the common factor between all the pieces,” al-Ali said.
For gallery owner Samer Kozah, the exhibition has turned the Old City into a scene from a story book.
“It’s a story displayed out in the open, allowing those who experience it to move from one tale to another,” Kozah said.
The doves have been incorporated into student artworks, including an installation by 24-year-old Hammoud Radwan.
His piece, titled A Continued Disappearance, sees the doves placed beside portraits of the artist’s friends who have left Syria in search of a brighter future abroad.
“The faces aren’t in Syria anymore,” Radwan told reporters, pointing to the pictures. “The pigeons fly beside them to express dispersal.”
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