Syrian artist Tammam Azzam, whose image of Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss superimposed on a bombed-out building went viral two years ago and is included in Banksy’s Dismaland show in the UK, talks about the message behind his newest work.
Transported by a bunch of brightly coloured balloons, a war-torn tenement building lifted from the streets of Damascus floats past New York’s Twin Towers as black smoke billows from them during the September 11 attacks.
The image, entitled New York, was exhibited in a group show in London, which was part of a campaign called Art4Peace that ran for two weeks this month. Organisers asked the 20 participating artists to reflect on opportunities for peaceful change in an increasingly conflicted world.
The altered image of the World Trade Center is one of the most recognisable – Tammam Azzam’s superimposed additions to it highlight the lack of attention given to the Syrian people by western powers.
