Cheek

About Cheek

The work "Cheek" is a series of images from Syria, depicting people and their stories amidst the harsh realities of conflict. These images and videos, often showing massacres and scenes of intense suffering, were widely circulated in the media. They are difficult to watch, as they clearly reveal the brutality of death and destruction caused by war. During the years 2011, 2012, and 2013, I carefully wrote on these images disjointed letters and simple words representing what I saw.

The visual text consists of words written directly on images of people or places in Syria. By calling things by their names, the goal is to ensure that we acknowledge their existence and seriousness. It is a reminder of the true human cost of conflict. The act of writing the names or words of what we see—such as "Ear, Eye, Brow, Window, Blood, Nose, Child, Neck, Throat, Chin, Shoulder, Heart, Mother, Fingers, Cheek"—is a deliberate effort to humanize these scenes and highlight the individuality of each person, each part of their body, and each element of their surroundings.

Video

The video "Cheek" is an animation film that showcases visual text and images from Syria. The soundscape is composed of a 5-second piece of music from Anouar Brahem's album "Madar," featuring Ramy. Duration: 00:01:31, 2015