Art has a destination, just like homing pigeons

Overnight spring had arrived and the r esidents of narrow alleys in Old Damascus woke up to an unusual scene, 15,000 pigeons made of ceramics decorated the place, as part of a collective exhibition articulating war years account, yet clearly enunciating a message of peace and hope for a better tomorrow.

The exhibition entitled “Once Upon a Time.. a Window”, in which 16 students from Fine Arts College participate, embodies the dream of their professor Buthaina Al-Ali, who planned to hold this exhibition 11 years ago, but the outbreak of war postponed her dream and her pigeons remained imprisoned in fortified warehouses for as long as it takes. Launching them today in Damascus blue spring sky is for sure an overwhelming event, indicating the rebirth and fertility of this great people.

 The pigeon is one of the most surprising domestic birds . This bird has some features that go with human life and some of its behaviors have some meaning that can teach us many things.

Pigeons are among the most maligned urban wildlife despite the fact that human beings brought them to our shores and turned them loose in our cities – not something that they chose. But being able to take advantage of those birds characteristics to beautify a city shattered by war is quite an achievement . 

“I used to dream of decorating the center of my city and hanging my pigeons in a crowded place for people to see daily, but the war changed everything, and I had to postpone my dream all this time,” Al-Ali, 48, declared. Al-Ali also had to “change the venue of the show to a part of my city that I love, which is Old Damascus”.

Al-Ali explains how she suggested to her students to take the pigeons and hang them according to their own creative ideas and perspective to raise their spirits after all those painful years of war as well as to develop their imagination and creativity.

The students hung white pigeons in the courtyards of two traditional houses, one of them a KazahGallery, in Old Damascus, and from there towards the narrow alleys leading to nearby alleys, making the exhibition in this form the first of its kind in the country. It opened on April 3rd  and continues until the 15th . An entire area of the old city has turned into an “open-air tale, and whoever walks next to it just moves from one story to the next”, says Gallery owner Samer Qazah. 

Pigeons are very quiet and harmless birds, living with us and trusting us. Worldwide people represent peace by white pigeons. They are called the symbol of peace. That’s why the simplicity and innocence of pigeons is well recognized.

The exhibition includes various artworks executed by Fine Art College students using those pigeons as the main component in the artistic installation they are constructing. The pigeon is one of the domestic birds. They have a lot of things to be surprised about. This bird has some features that go with human life and some of its behaviors have some meaning that can teach us many things.

Al-Ali considers that “melancholy is the common factor between them”, despite the fact that hanged birds in the sky is a very appealing and charming scene for the pedestrians.

In one of the projects entitled ‘Failure and impotence’, Hammoud Radwan, 24 years, displays pictures of his friends who were pushed by war years, to emigrate, in search of new beginnings, which is an integrated feature of  pigeons to go and come back. If you love pigeons then you might know that a pigeon can return to its own home even if you imprison it in a cage for months. They can recognize their own house after a long time.

At evening casual flocks of pigeons, make ambiguous undulations as they sink downward to darkness, on extended wings, so do our souls looking to Old Damascus Skies those nights.

Lama Alhassanieh