Syrian visual artist embodies stories of Syrian refugees
Bashir Muslim, a Syrian lives in Erbil – North press
ERBIL, KRI, Iraq (North Press) – At his small drawing room, paintings of Bashir Muslim, a Syrian refugee resides in Erbil in Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), denote how much he was affected by the events taking place at his country which has not recovered from horrors of a decade-long war yet.
One painting, an elderly woman put her hands of her sad face. Not far away in distance, two other paintings represent nearly the same affliction.
Another woman embraces firmly weeping children fearing war. Alan Kurdi, whose body was stranded off shore in Turkey in 2012, represents another tragedy. Alan’s painting is a different one. He is stranded on the sand with no sea seeming behind.
While Muslim was engaged in drawing the face of a man on a white fabric, he said, “When I was about to finish Alan painting, I could not draw the sea which has become a dragon that devoured Syrian migrants.”
Bashir Muslim, is a Syrian visual artist who comes from the city of Kobani inn northern Syria. He arrived in the city of Erbil in 2012 following a pain-stricken journey.
Muslim’s skills were cultivated on the banks of the Euphrates River when he was living in the city of Raqqa prior to the war. He used to make clay models of his little village in the countryside of Kobani. At the Sixth stage at school, he ranked second for best paintings in Raqqa.
Being a maktoom (Syrian Kurds having no Syrian citizenship) he did not complete his study after the Six Stage. He was compelled to look for a job at an early age to render help to his mother owing to his father’s death.
However, the young Muslim was adamant to make use of any free time in cultivating his hobby. One day he came across an artist who in turn introduced him to other prominent ones where he was given the chance to visit their drawing rooms.
Muslim took part in an exhibition held in the city of Raqqa in 1995 in which an elite of Syrian, Arab and foreign artists took part. However, he was the youngest participant.
Afterwards, the young man took part in a number of exhibitions in Raqqa. In 2010 he had his own solo exhibition.
When the Syrian war reached Raqqa in 2012, he migrated along with his family to Turkey, “I fled the war to Turkey, however I could not find a job owing among others to my inability to speak Turkish. I moved to Erbil.”
In Erbil, the Syrian young man faced other challenges, “I could not find a job here, too. I held my drawing feather and stood on the pavement close to the Erbil Citadel. I used to draw tourists, foreigners and aspirants. I began to earn money.”
That was a turning point in the life of Muslim. A friend of his proposed that Muslim draw sketches of school books. His conditions improved; he opened a drawing room largely to embody the story of Syrian refuge.
He draws Syrian women whose faces represent uncertainty while their eyes full of sadness.
“Via my paintings I embody pains of Syrian women that lost either her husbands or sons. I devoted some of my paintings to embody the lives of Syrian children during the war and what has afflicted them is also given a space.”
Muslim took part in a lot of virtual exhibitions in Europe and Asia. He was awarded for his participations.
The Syrian visual artist tries to show a smile on the faces of Syrians on his paintings, “I am fed up with suffering and sadness, I wish to draw one day a painting on which Syrian are shown happy. I want to recall memories I had in Raqqa where we used to meet Syrian visual artists on the banks of the Euphrates River.
“I am fed up with the war and suffering, I want draw a smile on the face of people instead of sadness,” he noted.