Young people from London and Damascus in visual dialogue

Discovering Difference

Osama Nassar Self-Portrait 2005, Damascus Naseer Chaura From Al-Hameh 1958 National Museum of Antiquities Sqria

Setting objectives for this project required challenging each others’ fundamental assumptions about art and questioning what part discourse should play in the process of making. Issues quickly surfaced: the British had to question their belief in cultural relativism and were surprised to find that the Syrians valued oil painting above all other mediums. The GCSE art curriculum places considerable emphasis on students referring to the history of art, usually through public collections. Was the British method over-academic?

In Syria the British educators discovered that students were encouraged to work from their imagination and to learn through mastering skills taught by artists. There is no museum of modern art in Damascus, but the rich visual heritage is observable throughout Syria and it is both valued and taken for granted. Modern or contemporary art is only displayed in the recently opened Opera House, in two galleries within the National Museum of Antiquities, or in a few private galleries. With little attention paid to studying the history of art, the British wondered to what extent this informed the Syrians’ attitudes towards teaching art?

The range of antiquities in museums combined with the wide range of dress styles seen on the streets of Damascus revealed complex histories of different religions and societies. The British learned that, like themselves, Syrians are proud of their multicultural society, made up of Christians and Jews, as well as Muslims – whether Sunnis, Shi-ites or Allawites. As citizens of a country with a long history of secular government, our Syrian colleagues did not identify themselves, first and foremost, as Muslims.

Cultural references

By the end of the exchange in Damascus, each institution established its own objectives and the artist educators started working with the students to develop pictures that were shared online. They were a form of introduction as well as a way of expressing their friendships, localities, homes, dreams and ambitions. They created over 45 pages of images and text that include pictures of their bedrooms, their schools and explored images of their cities. As well as engaging with historic and contemporary cultural references, students have referred to works in their national collections. For instance, Damascene student Osama Nassar selected the oil painting From Al-Hameh 1958 by Syrian artist Naseer Chaura (1920–92), housed in Syria’s National Museum of Antiquities. London student Narmeen Yawer chose Tate Britain’s A Lady of the Horton Family by the British School (about 1655) because she thought it looked like her, especially as the scarf she wears was comparable to the head covering in the painting.

Narmeen Yawer Self-Portrait 2005, London

British School seventeenth century 1600-99 A Lady of the Horton Family about 1655 © Tate

‘When I draw I feel part of the world’

During the autumn term British artist Henna Nadeem visited the Adham Ismail Centre to run some classes with the Syrian students and later four Syrian artists, led by Reem Al-Khatib, Director of the Adham Ismail Centre, visited London to run classes at Quintin Kynaston School. While teacher, Sandra Archer, says that quite a few of the students at Quintin Kynaston are Muslim, and that ‘Every week I have a discussion with kids about Islam’, the Syrian visitors were surprised that the British young people used religious symbols as a visual focus for representing their identity. At Tate Britain the Syrians gave a presentation to curators about their visual traditions, such as Syrian printmaking techniques, as well as Islamic visual concepts, such as the Arabesque, which gave clarity to the complexity of pan-national and national traditions.

In February a Tate Britain representative visited Damascus for the opening of an exhibition of the Syrian participants’ work in the heart of the Damascene market quarter, and initial plans were made to extend the programme to include Jordan. Although the focus has been on involving young people, the adult participants have become aware of their own increased understanding of the other participating country and they have begun a dialogue to enhance the experience of the students. Cutting across the many variations of cultural beliefs and systems of teaching and learning about art, is the experience of Damascene student Mohammad who expressed so vividly, ‘When I draw I feel part of the world.’