Border-lines, Jaber Al Azmeh
Installation view at Green Art Gallery, Dubai, 2016
Born in Damascus in 1973, Jaber Al Azmeh dedicated his career to professional photography since 1998, two years after getting his BA in Fine Arts-Visual Communications from the University of Damascus 1996. In 2006 he became a resident photography lecturer at the International University of Science & Technology in Damascus.
He had his first solo exhibition titled Metaphors (2009) at Atassi Gallery, Damascus, followed by Green Art Gallery, Dubai, where he also exhibited Traces (2011), Wounds (2012), The Resurrection (2014) and Border-lines (2016).
He has participated in various group shows, including: Tawsir – Arab Contemporary photography, Instituto Tomie Ohtake, São Paulo, Brazil (2019); Instantanés d’Orient, Villa Empain, The Boghossian Foundation, Brussels, Belgium (2017); La Biennale des Photographes du Monde Arabe Contemporain, Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, France (2017); Living Histories, The British Museum, London, UK (2017); Syria: Into the Light, Dubai (2017); Despite it all they make art!, The Institut des Cultures d’Islam, Paris (2014); KunstStoff Syrien, Forum Factory, Berlin (2014); Syriart 101 oeuvres pour la Syrie, Institut Du Monde Arabe, Paris (2013); Journées de la Photographie, organized by CCF Damascus (2011); The Retrospective of Fine Arts in Syria (IV), New Generation of Syrian Artists, organized by the Damascus Arab Capital of Culture (2008); and Biennial Dei Giovani Artisti Del Mediterraneo, Rome, Italy (1999).
His works have been covered in many major publications, he has been featured as ‘artist of the month’ by Le Monde diplomatique, and has works acquired by notable collections like The Deutsche Bank Art Collection, Barjeel Art Collection, the Staatliche Museum of Berlin, and the British Museum.
The work of a photographer is akin to a birthing process for Jaber Al Azmeh. The Doha-based Syrian artist is romanticising his craft with this comparison, one that has allowed him to gain some perspective on highly emotional situations.
As conflict and division continue to traumatise Syria, Canvas Editor-in-chief Ali Y. Khadra speaks with Jaber Al Azmeh in Doha. This interview reveals the artist's individual relationship with his homeland, the reality of the situation at hand, and in what ways the war has affected his life and work.
Artist and photographer Jaber Al Azmeh recalls life in an oppressive yet beloved Syria and how he is now distilling his memories on the desert fringes of Doha.
Myrna Ayad talks about the "social and political undertones" in Art Dubai.
The Syrian photographer, Jaber Al Azmeh, has captured a wide range of people, poets, journalists, artists and actors, holding a copy of the Al Baath newspaper inverted and with their real thoughts handwritten across the top in Arabic. In neat English text, the translation has been typed underneath.
Artist Jaber Al Azmeh captures the spirit of the Syrian revolution through photographic messages featuring eminent personalities.
In 2010, Jaber al-Azmeh was just another commercial photographer in Damascus, working mostly with local ad agencies. Now the 40-year-old is one of the best known of a group of Syrian artists working to chronicle their country’s conflict.
Wounds series by Jaber Al Azmeh featured in Manor House Quarterly, Issue 07: Myth.
Jaber Al Azmeh explains the inspiration behind his works The Dungeons and Heaven and how the above scene reflects the current mental and physical state of those fighting in the Syrian Revolution.
Urban Magazine Milano features The Small Group Of Syrians series by Jaber Al Azmeh.
Art spaces in Damascus became places of refuge for artists and others forced to flee their homes.
Almost two years have passed since a piece of graffiti – an anti-regime slogan scrawled on a school wall – led to the arrest of 15 children in Dara’a, igniting the first protests of the Syrian revolution. India Stoughton reports on how the country’s artists have reacted to the ongoing violence.
Jaber Al Azmeh takes Conchita Fernandes on a journey to Syria, where he depicts the country's duality with the help of his photographs.
Damascus-born photographer Jaber Al Azmeh began his latest series during the crucial early stages of the revolutionary movement in Syria. The artist asked those in his social circle to reenact their experiences demonstrating, until clashes between activists and the regime forced him to flee to Doha, Qatar.
Jaber Al Azmeh on his photographic project A Small Group of Syrians.
Jaber Al Azmeh's images make compelling statements about people, society and time.
Jaber Al Azmeh, Nazgol Ansarinia and Hera Buyuktaşciyan are featured in the new publication Reflections: contemporary art of the Middle East and North Africa, bringing together an extraordinary collection of work from the British Museum for the first time.
