Making sense of Syrian mindscapes in Al-Ayoun’s latest exhibition, “Witness of the Land”

As a matter of coincidence, Al-Ayoun was planning an exhibition in Jordan in collaboration with Darkroom Amman well before the Assad regime’s collapse early in December. As it were, the fall of the 54-year old dictatorship appeared almost out of nowhere, inadvertently placing upon the show an entirely new weight. Even the photographs featured, nearly all taken before December 8, 2024 (with the exception of two), suddenly carried new meaning; what once captured the present of a country undergoing the decaying yet unending violence of a 14-year civil war, quickly became historical artefact.

On January 4th, “Witness of the Land” (شاهد على الأرض) opened at Darkroom not even one month after Bashar al Assad fled to Russia. Despite this sequence of events, the exhibition—organised with the support of the Institut Français de Jordanie—remains unchanged despite the upheaval in Syria. And still, it is as timely as ever. Putting on display the works of several amateur and professional Syrian photographers, the show spotlights their multifarious perspectives on the Syrian experience, its layered and sometimes fractured variety, but intimate all the same.

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Behind “Witness of the Land,” is Al-Ayoun, one of the few platforms dedicated to promoting the visibility of Syrian photography and film, and through them, the archiving of Syrian identity and narrative. First founded in 2021 by Paris-based photographer and filmmaker Sara Kontar with a focus on photography, its film initiative was later started by filmmaker Diala al Hindaoui. Other key members include Laure Despres-Khatib and Ameen Abo Kaseem, who is one of the photographers featured in “Witness of the Land.”

Since its inception, Al-Ayoun has organised exhibitions, screenings, and workshops across Europe and SWANA to showcases Syrian storytellers. “Witness of the Land” continues in that spirit, and though unintentionally, it has become the first Al-Ayoun event since the fall of the regime. In keeping with its name, “Witness of the Land” curates a selection of photographs that “bear witness to the enduring connection between people, place, and memory” for Syrians. While there is an emphasis on documentation of the land, the homes, cities, and natural landscapes built on it, equally significant are the emotional monuments built in relation to these places.

The breadth of interpretation and reflection on the relationships and stories of these artists birth a tapestry of visual testimonies that inform a collective understanding of Syria. That understanding, as manifested by “Witness of the Land”, invokes an intricate synthesis of hope, grief and isolation. A curious amalgam: because regardless of the fact that nearly all the participating photographers are based in Syria, there is a discernable sense of estrangement that emerges in the photos, the feeling that the artists have become foreigners in their own land even as it remains home.

Despite the intensity of the emotional reconciliation being explored, the exhibition’s works are underscored by their simplicity; snapshots of daily life in Syria, ordinary and fleeting, yet a revelation of struggle nonetheless. The challenges illustrated are not merely emotional: the economic hardship faced by Syrians since the beginning of the war in 2011 has led to real scarcity; among the participating photographers, the use broken cameras and reliance on expired film is commonplace. Though a matter of fact rather than edgy artistic choice, the use of these limited, and limiting, resources ingrains in the photographs an unrefined yet honest quality.

This unassuming earnestness forms the foundation of “Witness of the Land.” The existence of the photographs themselves, beyond the complexity of the subjects they depict, are a testament to Syrians’ resolve to create, even as they endure. To narrate, even as the rest of the world forgot about Syria. The exhibition invites viewers to eavesdrop on a conversation between the artists and the spaces they occupy. A dialogue that confronts belonging and alienation—the simultaneous balance and paradox.

Unwittingly, “Witness of the Land” comes during a momentous period for Syria, as well as the region’s; with that, Al-Ayoun has graciously taken on the role of a custodian for Syria’s visual history and future. This exhibition, in particular, serves as a record of a time now belonging to the past and which marks the crossroads Syrians now navigate for what comes next. In that way, “Witness of the Land” is extraordinary in the true sense of the world, in the way only enabled by happenstance.

Open at Darkroom Amman till the end of January, “Witness of the Land,” asks us how we make sense of Syria despite the grey area: it is a question we must ask ourselves, whether it is during civil war or following the fall of a barbaric dictatorship. We ask, and we witness.

“Witness of the Land” features 10 Syrian artists:
Ameen Abo Kaseem أمين أبو قاسم
Hasan Al Hammoud حسن الحمود
Leen Mahaini لين مهايني
Mohammad Nour Durra محمد نور درا
Mohammed Nammoor محمد نمور
Nasouh Tayara نصوح طيارة
Rawa Zalkha رواء زلخة
Rya Abou Mahmoud ريى أبو محمود
Tala Shamseddin تالا شمس الدين
Yassen Sheikh Alsagha ياسين شيخ الصاغة