Aleppo 's 3rd international women art festival
Syria, Local, 5/14/2001

Under the patronage of the Syrian minister of Culture Maha Qanout, Le Pont Gallery in partnership with the Embassy of Canada and Aleppo City Council- the Directorate of the Old city, the 3rd International " Women's Art festival" dedicated to ICRC campaign " women and war" was held in Aleppo On may 1st to 10, 2001.

Some 35 foreign women artists, 7 Arab women artists and other 40 women artists from 18 countries all over the world took part in the said festival. The participating women came from Armenia, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, ICRC, Iran, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, Syria, UK and the USA.

The German Goethe Institute in Damascus presented artist Daniela Kwee who ever since she started studying art at the Hochschule der Kunste in Berlin in 1981, she has traveled the world, visiting countries as diverse as Hawaii, China and North America. Her works are influenced by the customs, myths, signs, rituals, and earth and cave pictures she came to contact with. She uses bright real pigments or subdued earth colors- red, browns, ochre that she found and collected on her travels.

For kwee, " Man does not dominate. He is part of the cosmos, equal with nature with heaven. Animals, no matter whether big or small are the leaders- sometimes even the protectors- of human beings in earth and vision. They are the real rulers of nature, of the world." Daniela Kwee has exhibited numerous times in Germany. In 1988 she held an exhibition in the Black Boy Gallery in London, and in 2001 at the Goethe Institute in Damascus.

Iran was presented by the Iranian cultural center with two films: The Blue Kerchief by Rakhshan Beni Itimad and the " Apple" by Samira Makhmalbaf.

Director Rakhshan Beni Itimad studied cinema in Tehran and worked as an assistant director before becoming a director. her films short and full-length include the " foreign currency" ( 1990), "Violet" ( 1992), and "the blue Kerchief" ( 1994).

In her movies beni Itimad focuses on the social, political and cultural situations of the Iranian women. In this year's festival, she is presenting "the Blue Kerchief," the story of a woman who falls in love with a widower, the owner of the factory she works in. Their love leads them to a marriage violently rejected by the man's sons.

From the UK the Festival was attended by Yasmin Bodalbhai who has been studying Arabic and French in Oxford University for two years. Rhythms, moods and movement in theatre fascinate her. In this Festival, she performed a monologue entitled " Julia Domna," where she combines an ancient story with a modern approach, a form of Complete Theater Combining words with songs, action with dance. " Julie Domna" is a woman in conflict with different roles: the mother, the wife, the empress, the oppressor, the lover, the adventurer. Together with her husband Septemes Severes, she changes the face of the Roman Empire.

However, with all the pomp of Rome, she never forgot her hometown Homs.

Denmark is presented by the Ministry of Danish foreign affairs and the Danish Institute in Damascus " Made in Denmark," Hanne- Lisbeth Toft. A painter with a long travelling experience Hanne Ð Lisbeth Toft is inspired by great and old cultures like the Mesopotamian. Having stayed in Syria for a while, Toft studies her areas of interest, producing a Danish/ Syrian exhibition " Mesopotamian Myths" at the main library in Copenhagen.

Toft's art is narrative, often humorous, using acrylic colors on board or wood, combined with silver and gold leaves.

From Jordan, Jordanian artist Nawal Abdullah was born in Amman in 1968, Rajwa Ali Works and lives in Jordan. In Ali's sculpture one can see the simplicity of Zen philosophy. Her straight lines and uncomplicated cubes ass a certain Sufi purity to her stones. Meanwhile, the employment of water and placement of light within her stone and wood pieces, as integral organic parts of the sculpted compositions, take on a crispiness and ambiguity which adds to the mystic quality of her work.

Previous Stories:
  High-jacked Syrian ship anchored at Jazan's port in Saudi Arabia   (5/7/2001)
  On the high-jacked Syrian ship   (5/5/2001)
  Syrian ship high-jacked to Somalia   (5/4/2001)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search