
Sawsan Al Bahar Syrian , b. 1990
In this drawing Al Bahar delves into the origins of her surname. Myth has it that the artist's great great grandfather left 'Ana in Iraq, a young weaver unable to compete with other weavers in town. Travelling along the Euphrates river and settling in Mayadin, Syria, the villagers welcome his family as "Al Bahar": the people of the sea; they who come from the sea.
Drafting a drawing of a seascape, Sawsan reflects on her family's unique name and all the meanings the sea holds as a symbol of departure and return. She looks at the sea as her origin and homecoming, interpreting its ebbs and flows as a motif through her pencil, placing the sea between abstraction and depiction, and between dream and reality.