27/02/2016
Nizar Ali Badr expresses his thoughts through the ordinary media which can be found just under feet – pebbles. It is naturally for the artist living in a port city of Syria – Latakia to work with rocks and stones. Taking into consideration the difficult situation that has developed in his country – war, refugee movements, loss of loved ones – all this could not but affect the work of the Syrian sculptor. He recreates the events taking place in the country through pebbles – here, in the ancient city of Latakia he transmits the pain of the people who have to die, to suffer, to leave the country, but also there is a hope for the revival of the country, the return of human values – love, home, family.
“The cries came out of the uterus of the holy Syrian land. The stones screamed so loudly that all resounded… the cries of the needy, the oppressed and the fugitives,” he says.
And, indeed, Nizar Ali Badr’s work speaks volumes to the vast suffering of the Syrian people. Despite their simplicity, the sculptures are imbued with so much raw emotion that their impact is devastating. There are images of refugee families, bent under the weight of their belongings as they flee their homes. There are images of mothers comforting their children and neighbors holding each other in despair. And there are images of violence and death.
There are also images that depict happier times — children playing under a tree or flowers in a vase. Perhaps they are Nizar Ali Badr’s way of staying connected to a time when life was not so difficult. Or maybe they are a prayer for the future. It’s hard to know.
One thing is certain, however. And that is Nizar Ali Badr’s commitment to communicating the vastness of Syria’s suffering to the rest of the world.
“My human message is the spreading of happiness, amity and love,” he explains. “Inside of the war, destruction, death, migration, exodus, chaos, poverty, injustice, there are screams and yells of human beings as pain and suffering gripped them. Through my creations one can hear the stones screaming and yelling in desperate imploring: ‘Stop killing human beings, stop destruction, do not abandon your humanity!'”
Regardless of one’s political affiliation or beliefs, it is impossible to look at the work of Nizar Nizar Ali Badr and not feel the same way.
