Photography
Syrian-Australian artist Miream Salameh fled her beloved homeland in 2012. Already an accomplished artist on her arrival in Australia, Salameh is compelled to process her experiences of conflict and displacement through her multidisciplinary art practice, driven by an obligation to acknowledge the lives of her spiritual, intellectual and political heroes as part of her own survival and adaptation to a new country. The Colour of Absence explores how the intricate connections between memory, place, people, objects and identity are inflected by her experiences.
Salameh engages performance, video and photography to address her deeply personal experience of fleeing Syria as a dissident, together with the ongoing situation of her fellow Syrians who still live under threat or are detained as political prisoners, sometimes for years in darkness and solitary confinement. These meditative pieces reflect on what it means to be absent from the place you belong to and the specific qualities of loss and distance that accompany exile. For Salameh, her monotone video works express the way memories lose vivid detail and colour through distance or confinement. In stark contrast, the bright colours of her collage images of the personal belongings she carried when she fled Syria, convey optimism, nostalgia and the sense of home Salameh carries with her. This is Salameh’s first solo exhibition in Australia, a significant milestone as she develops a powerful visual language to express her presence in a new place.
The exhibition features two special events:
A collaborative durational performance Knitting a Home that emulates daily acts of resilience, struggle and motherly love.
An online Panel Discussion on Wednesday 2 September 2020 between the artist and speakers Nur Shkembi and Dr Safdur Ahmed exploring themes of loss, memory, identity and creative response to trauma and conflict from a variety of perspectives.
Watch the panel discussion here:
2019
2:11:19 Hours
Black and white video
This video documents a two-hour durational performance made by Salameh in 2019. The work is her interpretation of dissident lawyer, Riad Al-Turk’s experience as a political prisoner. Performed on one square metre of fabric, Salameh pays homage to his endurance and survival of twenty years of imprisonment for his outspoken position against the tyranny of the Syrian regime.
In two documentaries (Ibn al Am Online, 2012 and Ibn El Am, 2001) made by Syrian journalist Ali Atassi, Riad Al-Turk spoke about being held in an isolation cell for eighteen years and how he found a way to resist the brutality of prison by circumventing time.
Salameh’s performance depicts how he would save the harsh grains from the soup delivered to his cell every second day and used them to make words and images. These were destroyed before the next meal was delivered and the grains saved to make more words and images over time. Salameh’s poetic tribute was made with the knowledge and permission of Ali Atassi.
The Colour of Absence 2019, Image 1 of Lentil on Linen 38cm x 29cm
The Colour of Absence 2019, Image 2 of Lentil on Linen 38cm x 29cm
The Colour of Absence 2019, Image 3 of Lentil on Linen 38cm x 29cm
The Colour of Absence 2019, Image 4 of Lentil on Linen 38cm x 29cm
The Colour of Absence 2019, Image 2 of Lentil on Linen 38cm x 29cm
The Colour of Absence 2019, Image 6 of Lentil on Linen 38cm x 29cm
The Colour of Absence 2019, Image 7 of Lentil on Linen 38cm x 29cm
The Colour of Absence 2019, Image 8 of Lentil on Linen 38cm x 29cm
The Colour of Absence 2019, Image 9 of Lentil on Linen 38cm x 29cm