From Trump To Assad: Syrian Artist Reimagines World Leaders As Vulnerable Refugees
Darpan News Desk IANS, 09 Jun, 2017 01:47 PM
A Syrian refugee artist has spent 19 months creating a series of paintings in his Brussels studio showing world leaders as displaced or disenfranchised people and is showcasing them in a Dubai gallery.
Abdalla Al Omari’s “The Vulnerability Series” includes paintings of US President Donald Trump as a bedraggled refugee with a sleeping child in his arms, Russian President Vladimir Putin as a beggar, as well as former British Prime Minister David Cameron and former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
“My aim somehow shifted from an expression of anger to a more vivid desire of disarming these figures, (to) picture them outside their positions of power”, Omari told Al Jazeera.
Omari started painting in Damascus shortly after the start of the Syrian civil war broke out in 2011. He fled and was granted asylum in Belgium.
Gallery visitor Sami Azraq said the portraits were a unique take on the refugee crisis.
“I think it’s an interesting way or it’s a nicer way to look at the problem rather than our usual news or social media or other outlets,” he said.
LONDON: Britain on Friday got its first female Sikh and first turban-wearing MPs as the General Election results began pouring in with Indian-origin Labour Party candidates winning more seats than their rival Conservatives.
Operation Dharmic Vote, launched a few years ago, has highlighted a short-list of candidates that support their so-called “dharmic duties” by opposing the introduction of such a legislation which they claim will cause conflict within Britain’s Hindu community.
If all goes well, Chari may become the third person of Indian origin from the US after the late Kalpana Chawla and current NASA astronaut Sunita 'Suni' Williams to fly to space. S
A woman at a US department store allegedly made a racist rant against an Indian employee and a Latino family while in a queue, saying “you got an Indian waiting on an Indian”.
