A Century in Flux - photos
Highlights from the Barjeel Art Foundation. Sharjah Art Museum, UAE, 12 May 2018 - 31 May 2023. Curators: Salwa Mikdadi, Mandy Merzaban, Karim Sultan.
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Three Palestinian Boys, 1970
Oil on canvas
130 x 162 cm
Marwan Kassab-Bachi
Born 1934, Damascus, Syria
Died 2016, Berlin, Germany
At a time when art produced in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle usually relied on easily recognizable motifs, such as the Fidayeen (freedom fighters with their checkered headdress keffiyeh ) or women in embroidered dresses, Marwan chose to paint youngsters – those Palestinian youths who became iconic figures during the First Intifada as a symbol of resistance. In Marwan’s work, the young boys appear to us in all their vulnerability – three kids with their shirts open at the neck and rolled up sleeves; kids as one would find them in the thousands on the streets of any city or refugee camp. But Marwan gives them a greater significance; he paints them from a low angle, making them appear larger than life.
Text by Mandy Merzaban and Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi
© Photo: Courtesy of Barjeel Art Foundation
Highlights from the Barjeel Art Foundation. Sharjah Art Museum, UAE, 12 May 2018 - 31 May 2023. Curators: Salwa Mikdadi, Mandy Merzaban, Karim Sultan.