Abdalla Al Omari emphasises that no one is immune to consequences of was and everyone deserves sympathy and support.
2017-07-11
Kim Jong-un
The exhibition titled The Vulnerability Series has opened at Ayyam Gallery Dubai. Its author is Syrian artist Abdalla Al Omari who now bases in Brussels. The exhibition features portraits of well-known and controversial world’s political leaders as refugees who have to leave their home due to war.
Omari used an emotionally affecting approach usually applied to make viewers sympathise with the characters. This approach is often used in political visual culture, in particular in propaganda, political and social ads. The artist depicts presidents and prime ministers without any signs of strength, charisma and righteousness. He draws special attention to authoritarian leaders, showing them in moments of despair and sufferings, which were caused by their actions, too.
Omari, who began his career when the war broke out in his home country, had to flee Syria. At the first stage, he expressed his anger and grieve as a refugee in his works as the war in Syria escalated. But later he discovered the paradoxical nature of empathy and tried to play with the idea of vulnerability of his characters. He continued working in this direction and gradually came to the idea of demonstrating humanity of the world’s leaders and depicting them as disarmed persons outside the context of their political power. The Syrian artist places his characters into an unusual context and shows that everyone can face what his fellow countrymen and other people around the world go through.
President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
“I wanted to take away their power not to serve me and my pain but to give those leaders back their humanity and the audience an insight into what the power of vulnerability can achieve,” Abdalla Al Omari says.
François Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy
The Vulnerability Series features Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Bashar al-Assad, Kim Jong-un, Boris Johnson, Theresa May, Nicolas Sarkozy, François Hollande, David Cameron, Barack Obama, Angela Merkel and other world’s leaders. One of the paintings depicts Omari himself, a real refugee, standing in a queue for food among heads of states, hypothetical refuges. Omari’s series sends a strong message, saying that despite our political views and colours of our flags, we are all humans, have the same emotions, want to be happy and need help.
Vladimir Putin
Donald Trump
Angela Merkel
