The role of art in the Syrian political movement

How can creative and artistic work be part of political change? To answer these questions,NESWA act1,  hosted the Syrian artist Sulafa Hijazi to share her personal experience with the participants, and to present the Syrian models who worked on in the last nine years using art and creative work. 

Ms.Híjazy initially poses creativity as a question during the early stages of the revolution, as some may consider the use of mobile phones to photograph demonstrations as a form of creativity, although this is not necessarily an art, but the circumstance was creating a kind of alternative creative solutions.

Then, she introduced several Syrian visual artistic movements that emerged after the revolution in Syria. She opened a set of questions and discussions about the role of Syrian art in the current political crisis, and how art can be effective as a means of change.

In the context of the image and its impact, Mey Seifan, Director of the Neswa act 1, held a short session about  ISIS’s use of the image as an essential part of its propaganda through which it worked on polarization and instilling terror, as she referred to the methodology in choosing filming locations, artistic patterns and colors, and the messages that Bear it by harnessing professional tools and techniques to achieve this goal.

The participants, in which a number of them come from different artistic backgrounds, discussed the relation between art and peaceful political movements, and how art could affect our current reality.