YUSRA AL-EHMED

Raqqa- Fine art is a visual art forming painting, sculpture, photography, and printmaking by using materials such as pencil, plaster, stone, wood, and clay. Rasmiya Al-Arslan and Sahar Abdel Rahman, two female painters in Raqqa, a city in northern Syria, think that fine art plays an important role in recording women’s history.

 ‘Fine art is like a mirror reflecting past and present’

Historical events have been brought to the present by artists through fine art, Rasmiya Al-Arslan said. “The events in the past have been transferred through the ages by paintings. Drawings and symbols on the walls of caves and temples have many messages. During the period of kingdoms, the paintings reflected how the kings ruled and the rituals and culture of that period. If such drawings, considered a historical heritage, had not existed, the revolutions, crises, wars, what the world was going through would not have been known.”

She focuses on women's resistance in her artwork

I try to record the suffering, injustice, unfairness and male violence experienced by women through my artwork, Rasmiya Al-Arsan told us. “In my paintings, I focus on the problems and resistance of women in society. I portray women who break the restrictions imposed on them to achieve their dreams and goals.”

Rasmiya Al-Arslan believes that female artists play an important role in recording the struggle and experiences of women. “We pass down their struggle and experiences to the next generations through our art,” she said, calling on girls and women not to give up despite oppression and obstacles.

She depicts the past in her paintings

In her speech, Sahar Abdel Rahman indicated that women were known as leaders, warriors and wise in their societies in the Neolithic age. “However, their leading roles in societies gradually disappeared following the emergence of the patriarchal system. In my paintings, I depict how women were in the past, their roles and status in society.”

Painters play an important role in passing down the resistance of women to the next generations, Sahar Abdel Rahman emphasized. “Throughout history, women artists have played an important role in their society by focusing on the power and leadership of women. Fine art encourages women to return to themselves.”