Omar Imam
a cura di Maria Livia Brunelli
a cura di Maria Livia Brunelli
On the occasion of the International Festival 2016, from September 29 MLB Maria Livia Brunelli home gallery has managed to have in Ferrara a dozen works by Syrian photographer Omar Imam, protagonist of a service on the April issue of the International magazine and recently in the New York Times. The artist, who will be present in Ferrara at the opening of the exhibition, has made a series of photographs on Syrian refugees, they are portraits that represent their dreams. The project is a collection of surreal photos but with a deep and dramatic meaning. The exhibition will take place in two locations, at the MLB home gallery (in Corso Ercole d'Este 3) and at the Art Gallery Annunziata (in Piazza della Repubblica 5), until November 20th. The photos and videos of Omar Imam show the testimony of the lives marked by the conflict, without giving in easy sensationalism, but presenting touching intimate and minimal stories of the life of refugees.
Live, Love, Refugees turns down the normal representation of Syrian refugees, replacing numbers, reports, statistics, their fears and their deepest dreams. In the refugee camps in Lebanon, Omar Imam involves refugees in a process of catharsis and asks them to recreate their dreams: dreams of escape, dreams of love or hate. The result is symbolic and often surreal images, which evoke the deepest and darkest inner worlds of people who have lost their roots and who struggle daily for survival. “The people I met live nightmarish lives, but I have always understood in them the desire and the strength to continue living as human beings ".
Omar Imam is a Syrian photographer and director based in Amsterdam. Since 2003 he has been working on personal stories and social campaigns concerning Syria, using an ironic and conceptual approach as a reaction to violence, often publishing under a pseudonym. He worked on personal projects and for NGOs, producing films, reports, and workshops dedicated to Syrian refugees. His images were recently published in the April 2016 issue of Internazionale and in July 2016 in the "New York Times", and the exhibition "Live, Love, Refugees" after New York, Istanbul and Florence is now coming to Ferrara.
https://www.mlbgallery.com/en/exhibitions/live-love-refugees-en#sigProId915d2ccf01