Who can give me Freedom ?
Freedom for me is a private decision, it is not something others can give to you. I saw throughout my life that many free people lived under dictatorships, and I know now that many of my Western friends feel they are not free at all in the West …
For me the first step to Freedom does not come through weapons or revolutions, the first step to freedom starts with yourself.
When you start to use weapons you will not be free anymore. Many will start to use you and your freedom
under the name of supporting your “freedom ” against the darkness … you will need weapons to sustain your revolution, you’ll need to do more and more favours to the people who give you those weapons. In the past years I had many problems with the system in Syria, and so what?
Did I lose my freedom to do anything I like? Not at all. I just did what I wanted to do.
Did they have the courage to admit I was Free? And did I make a big deal out of it? Not at all.
I was free because I felt free, and I acted free, I did not need to say it and/or dance for that…
In the past many corrupted state employees tried to end my work and close my gallery. I answered them by Syrian law, I took them to court to prove my right and reopen my gallery, and it worked. For sure many international artists and journalists supported me, but my message was: do not use marshal law against me, come and deal with me with civil law.
I know many others who ran and made noise in the international media and cried that the former Prime Minister closed their newspaper or their office or whatever they were busy with… That was the easy way. What they did not try was to make the Prime Minister understand that HE had broken the law.
In the end all systems in the world are similar: they do not like free independent people – I found the same in some western cultural foundations I worked with.
After all what’s been happening in Syria, governments and revolutions, the country doesn’t look like what we knew before. One thing is sure: Syrian killings should stop now!
And for me freedom is like jazz music: you know how to start it, but you do not know how it will end.
Naked Syria is a collection of photography I did around Syria and the Old City of Aleppo , with very courageous girls from Syria and Western countries,it was a big challenge to everyone and to every thing around us, it was challenging to what the Western world thinks about the Middle East, and to the local society for what it thinks about itself.
But as I said before we had the freedom to do it in Syria , and we did
a collection of Photography from 1996 to 2005
PS : Important : This text is a very personal experience , it’s not propaganda or attack to any side