Tammam Azzam - To Me, My Work Has Become the Language With Which I Can Reach Others (Artist from Syria)

I am often moved by today’s stories, but don’t have a definition for the way I am working on them specifically. My style instead reflects the subject matter and ideas I am reflecting and so it may differ over time. 

1. Tell us about your background and journey.

I was born in Damascus, Syria. I started painting already from the age of 10 and subsequently went on to study at the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Damascus with a concentration in oil painting. Before this, however, I grew up in a small village in the south of Syria, which is where I spent my childhood discovering a love for drawings through the landscapes around me.

Away from the city and its influences until my move to Damascus. I worked also as a graphic designer for many years, which gave me experience in graphic programs I later used in my practice when I moved to Dubai. 

At this stage in my life, I lost my relationship with the materials I used to work with before in Syria. The technique is something that has developed and adapted with much of my journey and relocations, each place has brought about a different language of my art to tell my ongoing story. 

In Germany, I later worked in a form of collage-like painting, consisting of shreds of hand-painted papers, arranged in several layers, coming together like mosaics that unfolded into abstractions. In my most recent body of work, I have once again begun to revisit painting, continuing, both formally and thematically, what I started with my photomontages and paper collages over the last years. 

2. What inspired you to become an artist?

In Damascus, and in fact, in all the other cities I have lived in, I have always felt close to my surrounding environment and buildings of all conditions; old and modern, the stories inside, and the ideas of the home itself within. I used to collect leftover fabrics sometimes and rebuild them for a new story in my works. 

3. How would you describe your art style and aesthetics?

I am often moved by today’s stories, but don’t have a definition for the way I am working on them specifically. My style instead reflects the subject matter and ideas I am reflecting and so it may differ over time. 

4. What impact do you want to create through your work?

To me, my work has become the language with which I can reach others without the restrictions of borders.

5. Which artist do you admire the most and why?

While at university I participated in a workshop with renowned German-based artist Marwan Kassab Pashi, who became a huge influence on the future direction of my work. 

Tammam Azzam

Interviewed By - Serene Ingle