For Syrian artist Tammam Azzam, the outbreak of violence in his country generated a decided change of direction, both in terms of his location and artistic medium. This most unwelcome situation has created much fervent emotion in his soul, which he has harnessed and redirected into avid activity that reaches out to people worldwide. His ability to articulate the uselessness and horror of this outrageous conflict through poignant depictions that borrow imagery from famous artists of the western world, effectively drives his message home. Azzam makes pictures that pointedly tell the story, with the pleading hope that they get in the international face.
In the Syrian conflict, Tammam Azzam's work is like a revolutionary expression of despair. His digital im- age, Freedom Graffiti, showing Gustav Klimt's The Kiss superimposed on the bullet-ridden façade of an old building in Damascus, symbolised a call for peace when it went viral last year. The title conveys his de- sire for an end to President Bashar al-Assad's regime. His new exhibition – I, The Syrian – at Ayyam Gal- lery in London and Beirut, features a lightbox pres- entation of this poignant image as well as other dig- ital works relating to his home country's war.
Azzam, 33, lives in exile in Dubai. Seven months af- ter the Syrian crisis began, he moved there from Da- mascus with his wife and daughter, now 7. Besides wanting to find a safe place to live as the violence started to escalate beyond the country's outskirts, he was afraid of being conscripted into the military. It so happened that Ayyam Gallery, founded by art collectors Khaled and Hisham Samawi in Damascus, was relocating its staff to Dubai at the time, and as- sisted Azzam and his family in obtaining residency visas for the United Arab Emirates.
