Ala' photo
In his childhood, he was trapped in a surreal recurring dream: “a vast sky from which tons of sticky, colored paint poured down.” Many years later, he fully understood the power of colors to express what cannot be said. Then, with the company of color, he was able to draw the face of war without fearing it.

Born in Syria in 1983, Ala’ Hamameh holds a BFA from the Visual Communications Department at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Damascus University (2006), and works across painting, photography, calligraphy, installation, video, writing, and creative direction within a multidisciplinary practice.

While living in Damascus, Hamameh continued to shape a multidisciplinary professional identity. In 2016, he was invited by the House of the Cultures of the World (HKW), Berlin, to exhibit his work in the context of Acting within a Humane Society. Since then, he has been based in Germany, working full-time from his atelier in Frankfurt am Main.

Hamameh’s selected solo exhibitions include “Gedächtnis eines Koffers” at BASIS, Frankfurt, and “Dialogue Tables” at Europia, Paris. His film “A Suitcase Memory” was screened at the opening of the new National Museum MUZA in Malta and was nominated for Best Animated Film (Karama Feather Award) at the 16th Karama Human Rights Film Festival, Amman (2025). His work has been presented in numerous international group exhibitions across European Union countries, the United Kingdom, and the Middle East. Works addressing the chemical attack in Syria were exhibited at the International Psychoanalytic University in Berlin and at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. He is a co-artist with Caravane Culturelle Syrienne, producing cultural events across Europe, and a member of weiterschreiben.jetzt, a literary platform connecting authors in exile with established writers in Germany. In December 2021, he was named Artist of the Month by Le Monde Diplomatique, with his work featured in the newspaper’s German editions.

In recent years, his practice has taken a research-oriented direction, focusing on ideology, memory, and exile. He explores how individuals and identities are formed and reshaped within social, political, and symbolic structures. Working across writing and multiple visual media, he situates his practice at the intersection of art, philosophy, and sociology, treating ideology as a lived condition rather than a theoretical abstraction. This inquiry underpins his current projects, where visual language serves as a means to investigate power, repetition, and the fragility of meaning.

EDUCATION

2001–2005
Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA)
Fine Arts Faculty, Visual Communications — Damascus, Syria

2022–2024
Political Philosophy: Justice
HarvardX, Online Learning — Harvard University
Verified Certificate Awarded

 

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2018
Gedächtnis eines Koffers — BASIS, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

2018
A Suitcase Memory — Europia Gallery, Paris, France

2015
Dialogue Tables — Europia Gallery, Paris, France

 

ARTISTIC INTERVENTIONS

2014 – 2025 — Starvation

(Installation / Photo-Montage) — Artistic intervention addressing the use of starvation as a weapon of war. The work was initially conceived during the sieges imposed on Syrian cities by the Assad regime, later reconfigured and circulated during the siege of Gaza, and subsequently re-produced and expanded in response to the siege of Suwayda as part of a wide-scale humanitarian campaign. Disseminated digitally in multiple European languages.

2014 – 2024 — Only Names Matter
(Installation / Photo-Montage) — Artistic intervention originating from the documentation of chemical attacks in Syria, centered on the act of recording names as a form of evidence and resistance against erasure. Presented within the framework of the “Don’t Suffocate Truth” initiative at the International Psychoanalytic University, Berlin; the International Court of Justice, The Hague; and Trafalgar Square, London.

2023  – Ruin
(Installation / Photo-Montage) — Artistic intervention developed in support of the #CallForAction campaign with Basmeh & Zeitooneh, an organization providing essential services to displaced Syrian communities. The work reflects on loss, displacement, and the fragility of home, and was later reconfigured in response to the floods that affected Germany.

2021 – dictator‘s election festival
(Installation / Photo-Montage Series) — Artistic intervention responding to the Syrian presidential elections as a staged spectacle of power. The project examines fear, memory, and the mechanisms of political erasure, was presented through the civil society platform Adopt a Revolution, and is held in the permanent collection of the Atassi Foundation.

 

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS & PARTICIPATIONS

2024
We Remember — donot suffocate truth, Vienna, Austria
Active for Freedom — donot suffocate truth, Gothenburg, Sweden
Active for Freedom — donot suffocate truth, Düsseldorf, Germany
Active for Freedom — donot suffocate truth, Witten, Germany
Wir erinnern, wir leisten — donot suffocate truth, Dortmund, Germany
Emotions and Affects — International Psychoanalytic University, Berlin, Germany
Emotions and Affects — Trafalgar Square, London, United Kingdom
Emotions and Affects — Syria Civil Defence, Idlib, Syria

2023
We Remember We Resist — International Court of Justice, The Hague, Netherlands
The Journey After Scars — MENA Art Gallery, Perugia, Italy
International Journalism Festival — Perugia, Italy

2020
Neue Räume, Neue Perspektiven — Stiftung Mercator, Berlin, Germany

2019
Neue Räume, Neue Perspektiven — Stiftung Mercator, Essen, Germany

2017
Kunst in Licher Scheunen — Lich, Germany
Heimat Kunst — Theaterhaus Stuttgart, Germany

2016
Contemporary Istanbul — Istanbul, Turkey
Kaleemat Sanat Galeri — Istanbul, Turkey
Life, Death and Art in Syria — Nieuwsport (with Fanack Academy), The Hague, Netherlands
La Syrie au cœur — Galerie Neuf, Nancy, France
Shared Ego — Europia Gallery, Paris, France

2015
Dialogue Tables — Europia Gallery, Paris, France
Acting within a Humane Society — Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW), Berlin, Germany
Syria off Frame — Venice Biennale (Imago Mundi Art), Venice, Italy
La Quinzaine Syrienne — Galerie Pictura Bourges, Bourges, France

2014
Beirut Global Art Fair — Beirut, Lebanon
JABAL (Jeunes Artistes des Beaux-Arts du Liban) — Le Gray Hotel, Beirut, Lebanon
The Last Supper — The Venue Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon

2013
ARA – Art Residence Aley — Collective Exhibition, Lebanon
Beirut Bloom — Contemporary Art Fair, Beirut, Lebanon
Etching Workshop (with Yaser Safi, Yamen Yousef, Hussain Tarabeeh) — Damascus, Syria

2012
Beirut Art Fair — Kozah Art Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon

2011
The Visual Scene: Selections — Kozah Art Gallery, Damascus, Syria
Small Painting Exhibition — Mustafa Ali’s Gallery, Damascus, Syria
Pomegranates (with Ida M. Kleiterp) — Kozah Art Gallery, Damascus, Syria

2010
Centre Culturel Français de Damas — Collective Exhibition / Cement in Art 2, Damascus, Syria
Work-n-Art Workshop — Cement in Art (Sculpture), Damascus, Syria

2009
National Symposium of Sculpture — Homs, Syria
Work-n-Art Workshop — Centre Culturel Français de Damas, Damascus, Syria

2008
ADeaters (Video Art Festival) — Cham Hotel Cinema, Damascus, Syria
BANA Association (Video Art) — Damascus, Syria

2007
Fine Arts Faculty — Collective Exhibition, Damascus, Syria
Goethe Institute Workshop (with Pia Stadtbäumer) — Damascus, Syria
Fine Arts Faculty (with British Council & The Netherlands Institute) — Damascus, Syria
Typography Workshop — Delegation of the European Commission, Damascus, Syria

2006
BANA Association — Photography Solo Exhibition, Damascus, Syria

2005
Fine Arts Faculty — Collective Exhibition, Damascus, Syria
ECUME – Cultural Exchanges in the Mediterranean — Installation, Damascus, Syria

 

SCREENINGS / FILM & VIDEO

2025
A Suitcase Memory (animated film) — 16th Karama Human Rights Film Festival, Amman, Jordan
Nominated for Best Animated Film (Karama Feather Award)

2018
A Suitcase Memory — Mahalla Festival, National Museum MUZA, Valletta, Malta
A Suitcase Memory (stop-motion film) — 13e Festival Arabesques, Montpellier, France
A Suitcase Memory (video art) — Galerie Breckner, Düsseldorf, Germany

2008
ADeaters (Video Art Festival) — Cham Hotel Cinema, Damascus, Syria
BANA Association (Video Art) — Damascus, Syria

 

PUBLICATIONS / MEDIA

2025
wobei magazine — published as a cultural supplement of WOZ – Die Wochenzeitung, Switzerland

2021
Le Monde Diplomatique — Artist of the Month (December 2021), German editions (Germany, Switzerland, Austria)

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