“Damascene Athan emerges from recordings I made during my last visit to Damascus, in 2011, on the ev

“Damascene Athan emerges from recordings I made during my last visit to Damascus, in 2011, on the eve of the Syrian War. I integrated those final few moments of peace into the decorative mirror frames, which remind me of the plush Victorian interiors we had to leave behind. The daily calls to prayer from the Great Umayyad Mosque of Damascus can be heard in the background, and Islamic calligraphic graffiti decorate the walls. In 2011, although life seemed very peaceful at the time, one could not help but feel a greater danger looming over Damascus, fueled by the Arab Spring momentum and the demonstrations that had already started in southern Syria. The Toyota truck included in the work is a vehicle notoriously used by the Syrian secret service. Having this vehicle parked outside anyone’s house meant bad news. While flowers and jasmine ivy continued to peacefully grow on our architecture, so did the fear and stress represented by the surveillance camera visible in the work.” — Mohamad Hafez in Syria, Then and Now: Stories from Refugees a Century ApartMohamad Hafez (born Damascus, Syria, 1984) Damascene Athan, 2017. Mixed media (plaster, paint, found objects) Courtesy of the artist. -- source link

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