For three decades or so, Syrian artist Safwan Dahoul has been painting pensive, haunting images – all of which are titled “Dream”. The somber paintings typically depict a downcast, lone woman, painted in shades of gray or muted colors. A celebrated painter, Dahoul had seen his works acquired by the Syrian Ministry of Culture and the national museum in Damascus.
But he now lives in Dubai, joining over two million fellow citizens who fled overseas to escape the brutal civil war. When Dahoul moved to the UAE in 2012, he left behind most of his belongings, including many of his “Dream” paintings, at his Damascus home. “I left with only one small bag, thinking I’d return to Syria after a short time,” says the 53-year-old artist.
Art collector Hisham Samawi and his cousin Khaled Samawi, who run Ayyam Gallery in Dubai, helped Dahoul – and later his paintings – leave Syria. The cousins first opened the gallery in Damascus in 2006, but the conflict had forced them to move the headquarters to Dubai around three years ago.
They also helped 33-year-old artist Tammam Azzam escape to Dubai in September 2011. His work “Freedom Graffiti” – a digitally manipulated image of Gustav Klimt’s painting “The Kiss” superimposed on a photograph of a bomb-ravaged wall in Syria – went viral last year after the Saatchi Gallery in London shared it on Facebook.
