Syrian artists fleeing war find haven in a Paris atelier

Record ID: 1024832

  • Title: Syrian artists fleeing war find haven in a Paris atelier
  • Date: 1st February 2018
  • Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (JANUARY 30, 2018) (REUTERS) EXHIBITION AT THE PALAIS ROYAL OF WORKS BY EXILED ARTISTS UNTITLED PAINTING BY SYRIAN ARTIST LINA ALJIJAKLI, WITH FACES OF SYRIAN WOMEN AND CHILDREN PASSERS BY LOOKING AT PAINTING AND WALKING AWAY NAME AND DESCRIPTION OF ALJIJAKLI BESIDE PAINTING PARIS, FRANCE (JANUARY 31, 2018) (REUTERS) ALJIJAKLI IN ATELIER POINTING AT PAINTING,
  • Embargoed: 15th February 2018 10:12
  • Keywords: artists Syria conflict art Palais Royal culture asylum migration
  • Location: PARIS, FRANCE / ALEPPO, SYRIA
  • City: PARIS, FRANCE / ALEPPO, SYRIA
  • Country: France
  • Topics: Art,Arts / Culture / Entertainment,Human Interest / Brights / Odd News
  • Reuters ID: LVA00180PWJMH
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Syrian artist Lina Aljijakli likes to paint sad faces with round eyes.
    In an untitled piece, she portrays Syrian women and children as victims of war, with eyes like pools of water.
    It is displayed at Paris' Palais Royal, in an exhibition entitled "Les Vitrines de l'Atelier des Artistes en Exil" (Windows of the Atelier for Artists in Exile), along with 14 other works.
    "I'm drowned but I'm still here. I'm looking at you and I want you to do something," says one of her portraits, Aljijakli imagines.
    Aljijakli is one of around 150 artists from 20 countries supported by the atelier, an association in Paris that provides work space, supplies and exposure to artists seeking asylum in France.
    Born in Hama and growing up in Damascus, Aljijakli came to France to pursue theatre studies eight years ago, before the Syrian conflict started.
    Her family feared that Aljijakli's reputation as an outspoken artist would spell trouble with the government, and advised her to stay put in France, where she was granted asylum in 2014.
    "If you were in Damascus, I think that it would have been very hard to work freely, and have freedom of expression. It would have been difficult because you never know what could happen. You could get arrested, get killed," she said.
    Since it opened last year, the Atelier for Artists in Exile has opened its doors to painters, sculptors, writers, filmmakers, dancers and actors. They also help the artists navigate the paperwork-heavy asylum application process.
    France has become home to several immigrant artists -- Picasso, Dali and Chagall among others -- and it's time that this tradition was revived, the atelier's director Judith Depaule said.
    "Art and French culture have a lot to learn from this melting pot, from this contribution from other cultures," Depaule said.
    Mohammad Hijazi, a Syrian filmmaker hoping to be granted asylum in France, hopes to follow in this tradition.
    He was detained for three months in Damascus during the war, and fled in 2012.
    Casting a light on Syrian civilians suffering in the war, his latest video piece splices together clips from citizen journalists. But while the conflict could bring attention to artists like him, Hijazi said it is not his raison d'être as an artist.
    "My hope is to work on different things, not related to Syria, not just about it, and to tell the world that we are able to produce work not simply because we have a war or a revolt or a conflict or fighting," he said.
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