Tammam Azzam, Syrian Museum - Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss (Freedom Graffiti), 2013, Archival Print on Cotton Paper, 112 x 112 cm, Edition of 25
Curated by art historian Maymanah Farhat, the exhibition explores how 12 Syrian artists responded to the conflict back home.
In 2013, artist Tammam Azzam superimposed an image of Gustav Klimt's The Kiss on to the facade of a bombed-out building in Syria. The contrast of the couple embracing against a luxurious golden background, and the pockmarked structure it was overlaid on to, made for an immediately famous image. Many thought that the graffiti was real, and the image continues to circulate, popping up on Twitter from time to time.
But the work was made on Photoshop from Dubai, where Azzam had fled to after leaving Damascus. Rather than being an intervention into a war-torn city, it spoke of that other effect of conflict: exile.
