01 Works The Art of War, Wissam Al Jazairi’s Lampedusa and Refugees, with footnotes

Henry Zaidan
3 min readApr 16, 2024
Wissam Al Jazairi
Lampedusa and Refugees, c. 2012

Mixed Media on canvas
120x100 cm
© Syria.Art Facebook page
I have no further description, at this time

Lampedusa, Italy — The small harbor in Lampedusa is crowded with a fleet of dilapidated wooden and metal smuggler’s boats, some half-submerged. Discarded life jackets, filthy clothes and plastic water bottles float in the sea.

Nearly 2,000 migrants have died crossing the Mediterranean this year. Lampedusa is the closest piece of European territory to North Africa, so many migrants who make the perilous journey across the Mediterranean land there first. It is the gateway to Europe. More on Lampedusa and Refugee

Wissam al-Jazairy is a young artist who was born in Midan, Damascus in 1990. He began his study of graphic design at the University of New Bulgaria in 2008, and graduated in 2011

The paintings of al-Jazairy reflect the story of an artists who merged into the pain of his people, and constantly tries to represent the oppressed, marginalized and detainees, so their voices can be heard. Consequently, he participated in several exhibitions in America, Egypt, Britain and Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Kuwait, Germany, Italy, Denmark and Switzerland to support the peaceful democratic movement in Syria. while in Syria, a number of his works have been transformed into graffiti, sprayed by Syrians onto the walls of their cities, including the city of Saraqeb, Idlib.

In the midst of war, Wissam never forgot about hope and love. In one painting, love symbols are flying out of the houses of the city, it’s like the souls of lovers are defying air raids and missiles. In another painting and in response to the cover of The Economist, which portrayed the name of Syria colored black while fading and demolishing gradually by self-destruction, the young artist completed the picture by adding Syrians rebuilding their homeland’s name with new shiny colors.

“I dream of a free, independent and democratic Syria, where citizenship and justice are the basis of governance, and peace is the spoken language”. More on Wissam al-Jazairy

Please visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, Portrait of a Lady, The Orientalist, Art of the Nude and The Canals of Venice, Middle East Artists, 365 Saints, 365 Days, and Biblical Icons, also visit my Boards on Pinterest

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Henry Zaidan

In my Blog is an Online collection of significant paintings from the 1st century to today; complete with art-history and artist bibliographies.