For the past four years, Syria has been embroiled in a war that has ranged from sectarian to civil to proxy in nature. Towns and cities have been destroyed, and millions have been displaced.
D.C.-based artist Essa Neima is trying to come to terms with the disasters from a personal vantage. The adjunct professor of digital art at the University of the District of Columbia on Friday unveiled an exhibition of nearly a dozen paintings at Dupont Pilgrims Gallery.
Mr. Neima, a Syrian expat, is the son of a Catholic mother and Eastern Orthodox father. Were he to remain in Syria, he would be part of Syria’s Christian minority. “They are destroying art, buildings, statues. Some parties steal the art and sell it out of the country,” he said.
With a palette dominated by sienna, ocher, umber and crimson, each painting references Christian iconography to varying degrees and expresses some element of loss. “Syrian Iconoclasm” depicts the veiled head of the Virgin Mother in the lower right of the composition. Her face has been wiped away, representative of the numerous Christian statues whose faces have been removed when churches were converted to mosques. Geometric suggestions and patterns emerge from the background, and an eye — with all of the design traits similar to those of centuries-old Byzantine icons — peers from the center of the composition.
In another painting, titled “Rachel’s Tears,” we see the image of a woman and child obscured by pattern. The title is a reference to a passage in the Book of Jeremiah, where Rachel refused the comfort of the Lord’s promise for the return of her children — his people — to Zion.
While visually referencing the further destruction of ages-old Christian icons and relics that have been painted over with patterns, the reference to Rachel and her children is an allegory for Mr. Neima and his sentiments on the loss of artwork, life and culture in all of Syria. “The damage is emotional damage,” he said.
Reflecting on how the news captures only the stories of violence, he said, “You don’t think there are people who want to live in peace, but there are.”
The destruction, of course, affects everyone. Aleppo, Basra, Old Damascus, Homs, Qusayer — each being fought over by government and rebel forces and various other factions. Such ongoing conflict has damaged and destroyed Christian and Muslim religious sites, archaeological artifacts and ancient architecture alike.
While Mr. Neima’s work processes such devastation, it also allows him to cope with the loss of people closer to him. Family members have been civilian casualties in the fighting and distant relatives killed. Additionally, a priest with whom he was particularly close, the Rev. Francis Van Der Lugt, was assassinated by gunmen in April last year.
“Father Francis used to listen to our problems and give us advice.” Mr. Neima would often visit him in Homs and Damascus. “I talked to him about personal issues for two years until I left Syria.” It was his death that fueled the creation of several paintings within this exhibition.
Mr. Neima has lived in the United States since 2011, shortly after fighting in Syria erupted. Prior to that, he lived in Dubai for five years.
As an expat struggling with identity and memories of home, the destruction and loss magnifies those issues. “Your memories make you who you are. You don’t want to lose those things that give you nostalgia.” And, as a minority Christian, combined with the displacement of populations and the desecration of holy sites and relics, he holds the fear that once the fighting has settled, “there [will be] nothing to prove that I belong there.”
For obvious reasons, he cannot go back.
“I hope something will change and that I can be there again.”
For now, he has his painting to work through the crisis.
IF YOU GO
WHAT: Essa Neima’s “Touch Me Not” exhibit
WHERE: Dupont Pilgrims Gallery, located in Church of the Pilgrims, 2201 P St., NW
WHEN: Through April 5
INFO: Call 202/387-6612 or visit ChurchOfThePilgrims.org/about/art_gallery
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