Eufraat, Erfgoed, Eeuwigheid


English

We have the pleasure to present 12 portraits within the exhibition Eufraat, Erfgoed, Eeuwigheid (Euphrates, Heritage, Eternity) by Museum Van Loon (Keizersgracht 672, Amsterdam) from Sept. 22ⁿᵈ 2023 to Jan. 14ᵗʰ, 2024.

For this exhibition, we traced lines between portraits of Syrians around the world, captured between 2014 and 2017, and the work of archeologist Maurits Van Loon that was done 50 years earlier. We connected pictures, objects and ideas of these worlds that are closer to each other than we could think of at first.

Syrian Eyes of the World is a collective of photographers hosted by La maison de la Syrie, a non-profit cultural organization based in Montreal. Our goal is to present images of Syrians and Syria through a more positive lens that the one war has forced us into in the last 12 years.

Sometimes in a literal way, for example with Louai Nakhe working on his desk and thinking about the difficulty of being creative during the nightmare of war, and a picture of Maurits Van Loon working on a portable table. There are also visual parallels between pictures with similar landscapes that seem eternal, crowds and individuals, adults and children.

[ Victor van Drielen at work ]

The lines are also sometimes traced in a more subtle way, for example with Jamil Arsheed who’s jumping and escaping for a moment the weight of the earth and the chaos Syrians have been thrown in. And just under this earth is usually where the archeologist finds elemnts that can still resonate thousands of years later, thousands of kilometres away.

In these rooms, we witness objects and people that were once in Syria and that are here with us today, telling us stories of a heritage that can inspire us. Elements that can sometimes help us understand and stay grounded despite so much chaos.

We also took the opportunity of being in town to capture new portraits of Syrians living here, in Amsterdam.

These captured fragments of people, places and moments help us shape History as we share it with ourselves and with future generations. Stories of people connected to land, to culture and to heritage, who are also sometimes uprooted and have to reconfigure their lives, leaving Syria and travelling all around the world. Just like the water of the river, these people end up finding their way.

In their respective ways, archeologists and photographers dig around them to share stories, and we’re happy to share ours and create these connections between Syrian Eyes of the World and Museum Van Loon.

[Khaled Alwarea for the final touch ups.
Words by Youssef Shoufan. Pictures by Youssef Shoufan and Josef Helie]

- Eufraat, Erfgoed, Eeuwigheid

Français

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- Eufraat, Erfgoed, Eeuwigheid

العربية

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