Graphic art is a traditional category of fine arts including any form of visual artistic expressions such as painting, drawing, photography  and printmaking usually produced on flat surfaces.

Within the framework of reviving such arts, thirty-two  graphic artworks by a number of  graphic artists, who belong to different generations,  were displayed at  the sixth retrospective exhibition of graphic art  hosted by the People's Hall in Damascus .

The cultural event  , which was held by the Fine Arts Directorate at the Ministry of Culture in cooperation with the Syrian Plastic Artists Union, depicted various art  styles, techniques  and topics.   

Sculptor Imad Kashout, Director of Fine Arts at the Ministry of Culture  said in a statement to SANA, “The exhibition included  important works of the Ministry’s  holdings by some  graphic  artists  who are considered  the founding generation”.

He stressed that this  exhibition came within the framework of  the  Fine Arts directorate’s efforts to restore memory to graphic art and  introduce it  to  art students and the public who love it in an attempt to make this art   as the rest of other  arts.

Artist Kashaut underlined  that these retrospective exhibitions are part of a systematic activity of the culture  ministry to support plastic artists , indicating despite their suffering during the years of the war on Syria they  never stopped working.

He  noted  that the virtual modern art museum project was re-launched with full support after it stopped in 2012 due to the  nine-year war . 

According to  Hussein Saqour, the official in charge of exhibitions at the Union of Fine Artists,  the graphic art is a  rational art and developed over time with its methods, indicating that the aim of the exhibition is to introduce  graphic art and its techniques  to people  through such exhibitions.

Rawaa Ghanam

Under the title “ Keys from Memory”, plastic  artist Randa Tuffaha holds  her first solo exhibition during which  several intellectual and aesthetic visions about the Palestinian cause and the right of Palestinian people  to return to their  homeland were depicted . 

The exhibition, which is currently  hosted by  the Arab Cultural Center in Abu Rummaneh,  included  more than 40 paintings of various sizes using oil technique and  color intensities on the surfaces of the paintings.

The artist  adopted  the expressive and symbolic styles in intensifying her themes related to Palestine’s  cause and its people in the past, present and future.

Artist Tuffaha said in a statement to SANA  “I seek  through my  paintings , which took more than a year and a half , to present the Palestinian cause that concerns all the Arab people” adding  “My artworks included several Palestinian symbols mainly the key, which has many  indications ,  the broken prison cells , the necessity of liberation from the Israeli  occupation as  well as  scenes of a number of Palestinian heritage  sites. 

In his turn, plastic artist Abd al-Mu'ti Abu Zaid, Head of the Palestinian Plastic Artists Union said  “This exhibition is unique for  the artist Randa, through which she  managed to promote her presence in the world of art after many experiences”.

He stressed that this exhibition is of great importance as it embodied  the Arab-Zionist conflict and  dedicated  the concept  of resistance through art and preservation of   heritage and identity.

Abu Zaid explained that the artist  Tuffaha possessed her own artistic style and  her artworks  displayed different topics which expressed  her culture and ideas in a simple attractive  way  and color harmony.

It is noteworthy to mention that the artist Randa Tuffaha  is a graduate of the French Language Department at Damascus University and a member of the Palestinian Plastic Artists Union, Syria Branch. She has participated in many collective  art  exhibitions, events and workshops in a number of Syrian  governorates in addition to   Lebanon.

 Rawaa Ghanam

MINSK, (ST)_Syria is taking part in the 28^th edition of the Minsk International Book Fair, which kicked off at the t 14 Pobeditelei Avenue on 18 February.

The exhibition which is being held under the slogan "Books unite people and countries" will feature 281 exhibitors from 20 countries.

The Syrian pavilion exhibits books plus cultural and tourist brochures in Arabic and Russian languages with the participation of the Syrian Students Union in Belarus.