Closing of the "Reflections on the Image" activities

On the last evening of “Reflections on the Image,” which was held on Tuesday evening, June 15, 2021, three young photographers reviewed their photographic projects. Although each photographer has his own identity and personality, anyone who follows them will find that these projects have a common Syrian identity that these young people experienced during the war and that influenced them.

Some young people tried to go back to the past to revive a beautiful part of the Syrians’ memory with its authenticity, and some of them wandered through the corridors of their memory to convey to us the pains and remnants of war that were ingrained in the consciousness of young people, and some of them conveyed to us how people’s relationships, social lives, and dreams were affected by the war.

It all started with the young man "Jaafar Shakas" who loved the street and captured with his lens the spontaneous and honest expressions on people's faces, especially while they were working. He wandered between the coppersmiths' market and the Sulaymaniyah Takiyya market in Damascus, then moved to its rural in the city of Al-Nabk, documenting in his tours a group of photos about the old heritage professions, including the manufacture of copper vessels and weaving on the loom and others, focusing on the use of old tools that we no longer see today, and how these craftsmen merged with the place with its details and colors.

The audience discussed his photos' contrasts of colors, sizes, and shooting angles and encouraged him to be more daring in his photos.

While Amin Abu Qasim delved into the corridors of his memory, starting from there to express the collective memory that was formed among young people during the war years, embodying his ideas in black and white pictures that are characterized by sadness, isolation, despair and waiting, accompanied by a text that explains - from his point of view - what he was feeling at the moment the picture was taken.

The audience commented on his photos, saying that they looked more like part of a movie that needed a sequel than photographs, and they criticized the language of the accompanying text, which, in their view, did injustice to the photos and weakened them.

The young woman, "Ala Abbas", participated with two photo series and a selection of works. The first series, entitled "Waiting and Light", dealt with the dreams of a girl searching for light, joy, and the dream of a wedding. However, the reality she lives is the opposite of that, and it is the reality of bereaved Syrian women who live with sadness, loss, and farewells.

The second series was titled “The Third” and is a narrative with a beginning and an end. Each image represents a period in time and expresses human relationships with their attraction and repulsion. Each image was preceded by a sketch and prior preparation for the shot, location and lighting.

The rest of the photos were distinguished by their fine details, which aroused the audience’s curiosity to know what they were and where they were taken. Ola excelled in their details as a result of her being influenced by studying architecture.