Being an international student from Amman (Jordan), I have been subject to scare after scare, as a result of biased and falsified main media stories being shared in the West. The heartbreaking chaos that has taken place in the Middle Eastern area; war, revolutions, extremism, occupation and social injustices have affected thousands of refugees, my family, friends and the people that I proudly share a culture and home with. My inspiration formed from main media articles in comparison to social media articles that I have collected and read over the last 2 years, from both Amman and Cardiff. Through the use of Arabic calligraffiti (a method combining calligraphy and graffiti), collage and some sculpture, I have created work that is a personal emotional response, including my honest thoughts, commonly used phrases and poetry as a therapeutic way to deal with the articles in the media and bring the lives of the innocent to attention. Additionally I aim to give others an insight into the reality of the issues and facts about the innocent lives affected and a perception Western media will not portray, hopefully creating more sense of a global community rather than an ‘us vs. them’ way of thinking.
Tag Archives: Artist statement
Artist statement: spring term assement
Being from Jordan, my last year has involved scare after scare and one heartbreaking story after another, about people I proudly share a culture with. I hope to show my genuine frustration and pain I feel through creating a refugee tent installation. The tent will be part of a much larger concept of work, involving the hundreds of articles I have collected through newspaper articles (from Amman, Jordan and Cardiff, Wales) online articles, online video shared via viral social media shares, pictures that I have been sent through social media and the constant news feed that I have made my world for the last year. I have become what I had never considered myself to be previously; an Arab social activist. Visiting a small Palestinian museum run by activists in a roof top office space was where I made connections in the activist world and have since realized all my work since has been leading up to the tent. Through using these articles, Qufiyeh and Hatta’ (the Palestinian and Jordanian headscarfs) and my own calligraphy that I made as an emotional response to music an article recently. I plan on working on a collaboration with another course member with Arabic calligraffiti I have done (as mentioned previously) and have the translation in English. I hope to have a space where I am able to build a barrier through fencing and possibly a barrier similar to ones used in museums, to make the space feel unsafe and pressure from. The inside containing my sketchbook which contains all of my recordings and notes about my research and work throughout the year, a jar with prayer beads and some form of clock will be in the jar closed like bottling of emotions. The tent “fabric” will be made of the newspaper.
Artist statement (updated):
I started off this project a brief idea of the concepts I wanted to work around, but no idea where to start. I started with the idea of the refugees suffering in the camps in Jordan (Jordan being home for me) and the effects that the trauma and chaos of war has had on them.
The Zaatari refugee camp in the North of Jordan was the camp I decided to focus on. For my subject work I started looking at different ways I could portray emotions and the truths of the war and its effects, looking at artists such as Herakut and Joel Bergner and the positive impact they made on the Zaatari community through their work. I wanted to create work with similar intentions on a smaller scale with subtle messages; making others more aware of the pain and emotions related to being a refugee. I wanted to show that even in darker times, no matter how hard things became, they were still able to remain optimistic and their resilience enabled them to make the most of their new environment.
I have experimented with different mediums and techniques to try and best express these feelings. For example; painting and collaging using newspaper articles about the refugees or similar issues, printing different forms of text and calligraphy, in addition to using symbolic images of Middle Eastern good fortune.
Despite being held back by a period of illness, I feel successful and proud with the outcomes of my work.
Z.A.P Art 