The Syrian – painter Abdalla Omari, created the “Vulnerability Series” where he transform leaders as vulnerable people. Omari is one of more than 5 million who have fled Syria.
He said: I wanted to imagine how all these powerful leaders in the world would look like if they would be in our shoes. It was kind of a personal reaction on my personal story as a displaced person. As the anger was growing inside me, I wanted to have a sweet revenge, but with art. But the series became about something more. My aim somehow shifted from an expression of anger, to a more vivid desire of disarming those figures to picture them outside of their positions of power. The media, politics and news, they talk about the number if people who are refugees. But what we need to talk about is, who are these people? What are their personal stories? When you know the story of someone on a basic level, you connect to them.”
Abdalla Omari hope that artists will start speaking up. He also said; As an artist, I think it’s time for not only artists but any other kind of profession to be more involved in what is in the social-political situation universally. That’s why I worked on this project.
Aylan Kurdi, the 3-year-old boy whose body washed up on a beach after he drowned, is probably the most memorable – but while this and other heart-wrenching images have stayed in our collective memory, they have done little to change what is going on.
Have a look:
