“I Draw my Dream” Society for Fine Arts in Lattakia holds its sixth festival

 Caring about Syria’s children is a very important issue that necessitates collective efforts by the family, the society and the government, as Syria’s children are the generation who will take part effectively in building their country.

Children express themselves through art on a fundamental level. Creating art allows children to work through feelings and emotions, and referring to a finished piece of artwork helps a child talk about feelings in a new and meaningful way.

Art also develops a child’s creativity, as it expands the children’s ability to interact with the world around them, and provide a new set of skills for self-expression and communication.

 With the aim of promoting love, art and self-confidence in children, “I draw my dream” civil society for plastic art in Lattakia recently held its sixth festival at Dar Al-Assad for culture there in cooperation with Lattakia’s directorates of Culture and Social Affairs.

The three-day cultural event included an exhibition for the paintings of the children, adolescents and youths of the society , theatre performances by the  society ’s children  as well as an exhibition for accessories and traditional handicrafts including embroidery, Etamin in addition to accessories and  drawing on glass, wood and porcelain.

“Children are the goal and they are the compass in everything we do.  Through the society’s annual festival we try to focus on the importance of practicing art in their daily lives to express themselves and everything that surrounds them so that we can enter their magical worlds that deserve all attention” Head of “I Draw my Dream” society, plastic artist Hiyam Salman said in a statement to the Syriatimes e-newspaper during the opening ceremony of the festival.

She hoped that the festival would be a tributary of the fine cultural movement in Lattakia with the effort of a volunteer team that believes in the importance of giving. The plastic artist stressed   that the society aims to attract children in an environment that provides them with care and psychological, technical and cultural support to enhance their presence in society.

She indicated that the festival is a space of joy for the children to participate in interactive group workshops, display their artworks and feel proud of themselves, because they managed to express their ideas through art.

“As with every festival, there was a competition in the field of drawing, and the association presented 12 financial prizes and more than 60 in-kind prizes” Mrs. Salman added

The competition, according to Salman, was supervised by great artists from Lattakia Governorate including the artist Ali Mqawas, Dr. Sawsan Mualla and the sculptor Maher Alaa Eddin.

The 12-year-old participant Ahmed Na’esa told Syriatimes that he loves drawing, because it expresses happiness and dreams, expressing hope that one day he will become a famous artist and hold his own exhibition inside Syria and abroad.

“My pottery jar painting in the exhibition highlighted the deep-rooted Syrian heritage. I tried in my second painting to embody some of the features of the face which I love in my friends and relatives”. 

Maya Al-Shab expressed her happiness to participate in the festival, being a volunteer at the society and a participant in the exhibition, stressing that art is her shelter from what she encounters in life.

Al-Shab, who studies architecture, confirmed that there is a close relationship between art and her studies, as art plays an important role in making one sees things with the eyes of art.

Her participation was represented in a portrait of the Japanese artist Yukafora through which she expressed her admiration for this artist’s style of drawing and merging colors.

The nine-year-old Selina Kazak enjoys painting nature and the rainbow because she is fascinated by its colors.

“I like to draw traditional decorations and archaeological landmarks in Syria, such as the Citadel of Aleppo, Bosra amphitheater and Palmyra theatre which Syria is famous for”, Kazaz said.

Interviewed by: Rawaa Ghanam

Photos by: Rawaa Ghanam