Yara Said, Syrian artist
Born in Sweida, Syria in 1991
Lives and works in Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Yara Said was born in 1991 in Sweida, Syria, and graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts at Damascus University, in 2014. During and after her studies she worked as an art teacher for children. The artist has participated in several workshops and exhibitions with renowned artists, such as Edward Shahda and Nizar Sabour. She lives and works in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands.
The first spark which ignites artist Yara’s favorite expressionism started in 2011, a year that has been a turning point for many Syrian people. It was the beginning of the war. Her initial motives were to understand the human nature and the flow of people’s thoughts and emotions. However, with the war continuing to spread chaotically, she realized that this matter was far more complicated than she thought. It was not a local issue, but much deeper and genuine a problem that introduced her to the term “human condition”.
That opened her eyes on gaining more knowledge about politics, psychology, sociology, and theology to deepen the understanding of her role as a Syrian artist. Yara likes to clarify how time affects people and the surrounding materials, either this material is a painting, a sculpture, the progress of a video art or a human being. Keeping in mind the relationship of forms within space, sometimes light, sometimes heavy, this broad concept is still the main concern in her artistic research that she tries to reflect in her work.
Looking at the context of her work, Yara reflects that her art “is an attempt to manifest the ideas I had acquired through years of study inside and outside college, and to materialise them.”
Artist’s statement
The first spark for the kind of expression that I love painting, ignited in me in 2011, a year that was a turning point for many people in Syria. This was the beginning of the war.
My initial motivation was to understand human nature and people‘s flow of thoughts and emotions. However, as the war continued to spread chaos, I realized that the case was far more complex than I thought. It was not a local problem, but a much deeper problem, which let me get acquainted with the “Human Condition”.
It was a shock to me (as a nineteen-year-old girl) to discover that human beings can be so primitive. It opened my eyes, and I now care much more to acquire more knowledge about politics, psychology, sociology and theology in order to deepen the understanding of my role as a Syrian artist.
Also, I would like to clarify how time affects people and the surrounding materials, be this material a painting, a sculpture, video art or a human being.
Keeping in mind the relationship of forms within space, sometimes light, sometimes heavy, this broad concept was and still is the main concern in my artistic research that I try to reflect in all my work.
I guess we can name it an attempt to manifest the ideas I had acquired during these years outside and inside of my faculty of Fine Arts, and to materialize them.
I use acrylic paint, collage art, charcoal, ink and all other possible techniques at my disposal.
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