Rediscovering passion is rediscovering the self. Khaled Hourani’s A Retrospective exhibition nestled in the beautiful villa and garden that is Darat al Funun helped me rediscover that mind-captivating exhilaration and wonder at the beauty that surrounds us — the mind that thinks the art, the artist courageous enough to make the art, the Creator’s art: the bee pulled by the magnet of rosemary bushes and lavender, the sun as it warms the cold stone of the Roman columns standing tall in the backyard.
In this space of art and beauty one finds acceptance, universality; we are all one and the same, stripped of all the backgrounds that tell of differences.
That is the essence of Khaled Hourani’s newest work, The Blue Figure. By removing the refugee, resembled in the UNHCR logo as a blue figure, from its context, Hourani challenges our conception of a refugee. Seen in different settings: on a balcony, in the lap of a parent and in a tent, the figure’a individuality and humanness is returned. Each becomes one, all a part of the whole.
Photo credit: Dima Masri
Photo credit: Dima Masri
Photo credit: Dima Masri
Photo credit: Dima Masri
Photo credit: Dima Masri
Photo credit: Dima Masri
Photo credit: Dima Masri
Watch a report and interview on Al Ghad about the exhibition.
