ARCHIV-VERSION Dokserver des Zentrums für Zeithistorische Forschung Potsdam e.V. http://zeitgeschichte-digital.de/Doks Zeina Elcheikh Nizar Sabour. Places and Memories, War and Love https://doi.org/10.14765/zzf.dok-1706 Archiv-Version des ursprünglich auf dem Portal Visual-History am 05.10.2019 mit der URL: https://www.visual-history.de/2019/10/05/nizar-sabour/ erschienenen Textes Copyright © 2019 Clio-online – Historisches Fachinformationssystem e.V. und Autor/in, alle Rechte vorbehalten. Dieses Werk ist zum Download und zur Vervielfältigung für nicht-kommerzielle Zwecke freigegeben. Es darf jedoch nur erneut veröffentlicht werden, sofern die Einwilligung der o.g. Rechteinhaber vorliegt. Dies betrifft auch die Übersetzungsrechte. Bitte kontaktieren Sie: Für die Neuveröffentlichung von Bild-, Ton- und Filmmaterial, das in den Beiträgen enthalten ist, sind die dort jeweils genannten Lizenzbedingungen bzw. Rechteinhaber zu beachten. VISUALHISTORY Online-Nachschlagewerk fürdie historische Bildforschung NIZAR SABOUR: PLACES AND MEMORIES, WAR AND LOVE Art moves away from reality and invents something that mayb e ultimately more accurate ab out the world than what a photograph can depict. How ard Zinn, A rtists in Times of War, 2007 In times of w ars and conf licts, the w ords of Zinn have a deeper meaning. Through art visual dimensions and aspects can be explored that are of ten missing f rom w ritten reports or captured snapshots. This can be an image documentation or a reminder of how w ar shapes lives and places. In his set of etchings and triptych Der Krieg, the German artist and WWI veteran Otto Dix show ed f irsthand hellish visualizations of the horror he experienced as a f ront soldier. In response to the bombing of the Basque city of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War, Pablo Picasso created a masterpiece – and perhaps his most f amous w ork ever: Guernica (1937) w as regarded by many art critics as one of the most moving and pow erf ul artistic anti-w ar statements in history. Since 2011, the protracted Syrian conf lict has changed places and people and created strong memories. It is regarding by many as the best documented w ar ever. The w ork of Nizar Sabour should be seen in this context: it’s w orthy of note. Born in Lattakia (Syria) in 1958, Sabour graduated f rom Faculty of Fine A rts in Damascus in 1981 and earned his PhD in Sciences of A rt in 1990 in Moscow . Grow ing up betw een tw o w orlds, the urban and the rural, has strongly inf luenced his imagination. For Sabour, cities are not just a physical conf iguration of administrations planning law s and systems. Cities are images in motion: Manif estations of time and history. He began his f irst w ork on cities in Syria and pursued it during his academic stay in Moscow , w ere he produced his collection the Form of the City: an interpretation of history, a nostalgia-soaked memory: a longing to his ‘Orient’; and a desire f or a splendor f ar aw ay f rom conf licts that ravaged the Middle East in the 1980s, w here the cities began to lose their beauty. Nizar Sabour is currently prof essor at the University of Damascus and at the University of Kalamoon in Deir A tiyah/A l- Qalamoun (Syria). He had several solo and joint exhibitions, and his w orks can be f ound in many private, public and museum collections in the Middle East, Russia, the U.S.A . and Europe. 5. Oktober 2019 Zeina Elcheikh Rubrik: Akteure 1 von 4 Nizar Sabour: Ma’aloula: a historic document, 2014, Mixed media on canvas (50×70 cm) © with courtesy of Nizar Sabour Nizar Sabour: The Guardians of the City, 2018, Mixed media on canvas (224×120 cm) © with courtesy of Nizar Sabour Every city is in itself a unique experience. It is more than just a place where one lives, works and dies. W hat makes a city remains in the memory are little, hidden and sacred features, strongly related to us as people. Every city I draw has unique form, content, shades and even mood. Nizar Sab our Memories lead Nizar Sabour back to a small icon in a cave-like opening in the w all at his parents‘ house. In f ront of this icon stood a simple vigil oil lamp, w hose f lame alw ays burned and gave radiating light. Sabour’s w orks contain spiritual undertones based on his f ascination w ith religious iconography and various f eatures of the Syrian heritage. They all f ound their w ay into his w orks through several media, triptychs, engraved w ood, gold leaf , ash and sand. In Syria, his cities w ere colorf ul and vivid. Today, these paintings of f er a nostalgic retreat at the sight of destruction and ruins. Sabour’s paintings have become a beacon of hope and an expression of a w ish: if only these places, and their people, did not know the hell of w ar. The protracted conf lict has af f ected lives of all Syrians in very dif f erent w ays. Everything has changed as if lif e bef ore 2011 w as just an illusion. Located to the northeast of the Syrian capital Damascus, A l-Qalamoun w as know n f or its mountainous topography and dispersed small tow ns. A mong them, Ma’aloula is certainly the most f amous tow n w ith its houses on the slopes. It has a history that spans several centuries w ith a Christian heritage and tradition: monasteries, shrines and sanctuaries. Whether Muslim or Christian, many pilgrims came to Ma’aloula to receive blessings and make sacrif ices. Bef ore the civil w ar the tow n w as a major tourist attraction. Folgende Beiträge könnten Sie auch interessieren: Visual-History: Zeina Elcheikh: “Humans of Damascus” – The (Other) Art of Community (Building) Visual-History: Zeina Elcheikh: Book Review: Marwa Al- Sabouni, The Battle for Home Visual-History: Zeina Elcheikh: Picturing Violence: From Bosnia to Syria Docupedia: Jens Jäger: Heimat (english version) Zeitgeschichte-online: Freya Kuhn: Global Effects of the European Migration Regime. Roundtable 2 von 4 Nizar Sabour: Ma’aloula: a historic document, 2014, Mixed media on canvas (150×110 cm) © with courtesy of Nizar Sabour Ma’aloula is believed to be the only place w here A ramaic language – that of Jesus Christ – is still spoken. This is the most distinctive f eature of the tow n. Perhaps the remote and isolated location of the tow n preserve the language w hile A rabic is spoken everyw here else in the major cities. In the past, the houses of Ma’aloula w ere mostly painted blue. Many of the houses are scattered over the clif f as if they w ere f loating in the air or rising out of the rock, and the people there have survived in the mountainous and dry landscape f or centuries. In September 2013, Ma’aloula became the scene of a battle that began w ith a suicide attack by truck at the entrance of the tow n. People w ere killed; others f led; and nuns w ere kidnapped. During the violent clashes some churches suf f ered heavy damage e.g.at the altar, crosses f ell out of the dome and w all paintings w ere destroyed. Nizar Sabour: Al-Qalamoun area and Ma’aloula, 2014, Mixed media on canvas (315×145 cm) © with courtesy of Nizar Sabour Ma’aloula is strongly associated w ith Christian martyrdom and miracles. During and af ter the attacks in 2013, Nizar Sabour depicted w ar, darkness, blackness, f ire, and ash. The w ooden f rame w as painted w ith saints, spiritual symbols and icons, all trying to save the tow n. Certainly, 2013 w as the most dreadf ul year on Syrians: f ear, death, displacement, and the lack of answ ers to many questions. Nizar Sabour w anted to depict this state of insecurity, and so came the idea of “The Book: The Guardian of Lif e and Death”, in several themes. Each book has seven w ooden plates and a w ooden cover. 3 von 4 Nizar Sabour: Diaries of Love and War, 2013, Mixed media printing on MDF-board (40×30 cm) © with courtesy of Nizar Sabour Nizar Sabour: Diaries of Love and War, 2013, Mixed media printing on MDF-board (40×30 cm) © with courtesy of Nizar Sabour In “Diaries of Love and War” Nizar Sabour set out to document w hat he experienced in Damascus during that brutal period of time, through colors and w ords: In Damascus there are more mortar shells than sparrows … Despite death and destruction, the spring is b ack … W e grasp at straws (of hope)… Nizar Sab our The w ar has lef t marks in the cities of Syria and scars in the souls of the Syrians. Like many others, Nizar Sabour is doomed to be hopef ul. Today, there is a new statue of the V irgin Mary in a blue robe – Our Lady of Peace – again high overlooking Ma’aloula to replace the one destroyed during the attacks. A nd Damascus has slow ly started to greet the long-aw aited sparrow s. Zitation Zeina Elcheikh, Nizar Sabour. Places and Memories, War and Love, in: V isual History, 05.10.2019, https://w w w .visual-history.de/2019/10/05/nizar-sabour/ DOI: https://doi.org/10.14765/zzf .dok-1706 Link zur PDF-Datei Nutzungsbedingungen f ür diesen A rtikel Copyright (c) 2019 Clio-online e.V. und A utor*in, alle Rechte vorbehalten. Dieses Werk entstand im Rahmen des Clio-online Projekts „V isual-History“ und darf vervielf ältigt und veröf f entlicht w erden, sof ern die Einw illigung der Rechteinhaber*in vorliegt. Bitte kontaktieren Sie: 4 von 4