110 x 40 cm – £ 3,000
‘Farewell’ represents the displacement of the Syrian people as well the various forms of immigration that the Syrian people are going through. They said their farewells to their mothers and fathers, children and family.
After the cities, neighbourhoods and homes are destroyed, people are forced to either become dead bodies under the bombing or to leave the country in search for survival, so they had to give their last kiss to their homes because there is no way of knowing if they will ever come back.
The people who were forced to leave their homes couldn’t take their hearts and souls, so they left them with their loved ones who were left behind. Although some might lose their lives on the way to freedom if it’s by sea or a bullet on a border between somewhere and another or on a beach as a stranger. But for them, their hope in life is to reach the other side of the sea bank where they might find safety and prosperity.
The Arabic calligraphy which borders the painting is a poem of lament grieving the Syrian situation and the hard conditions which the Syrian people are going through.
The lighting reveals different faces, signifying the countless number of people affected, as well as contributing to the multi-dimensional element of the artwork.
All art pieces are made from reclaimed wood signifying rebirth and the possibility for hope in the future. The wood used in this piece was retrieved from the surviving parts of a kitchen from a shelled home in rural Damascus.