Young woman in Syria’s Qamishli shapes beauty turning metal to art
Laylan Jomaa, a young woman who bends metal wires into art in the city of Qamishli, northeastern Syria. – North Press
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – In a quiet corner of her home in Qamishli, northeastern Syria, 25-year-old Laylan Jomaa bends over a small table illuminated by a single lamp. Before her lies a collection of thin metal wires. With steady hands, she twists and shapes each one with patience and grace, as if speaking to it in a private language. Hours later, what began as scraps of iron becomes a sculpture alive with feeling and imagination.
This is how Laylan creates an art form her region has rarely seen — sculptures woven from wire, infused with personal stories and the emotional weight of life in Syria.
“I chose a distinctive, personal kind of art,” she tells North Press. “Each piece expresses the emotions and experiences we’ve lived — it’s a reflection of my inner world.”
Though self-taught, Laylan’s natural gift for drawing led her to discover this medium. What once existed only in sketches now takes form in three dimensions — iron transformed into fluid, expressive shapes.
Her craft demands precision, strength, and patience. “Even the smallest details require focus,” she explains. “Metal may be hard, but I try to make it speak softly.”
Each sculpture, whether a rose, a face, or a body in motion, carries a story. “Art expresses who we are,” she says. “Every piece leaves a spiritual mark within me.”
Lacking a workshop or exhibition space, Laylan shares her creations online, sometimes sending them to her brother in Iraq to reach new audiences. But her dream is larger: “I hope to open my own gallery one day — to see all my works gathered in one place.”
Amid the iron and silence of her studio, Laylan Jomaa turns cold metal into warmth — a language of resilience and beauty born from the heart of Syria.
Reporting by Nalin Ali