Ongoing...
Digital art illustrations
2011 - 2015
Most of the Ongoing series was published on social media between 2011 and 2012 when Hijazi was still in Damascus during the first two years of the Syrian revolution.
Social media was providing a great platform to share political art among large segments of people, Although those online platforms could not be directly censored from the Syrian authorities, it was still dangerous to release political art inside Syria.
The Ongoing series became very popular online and featured in newspapers, websites, books, magazines and international touring exhibitions.
’I purposely did not include pictures of the president or any elements related specifically to Syria in the series. I wanted this artwork to be about any conflict situation with accompanying humanitarian issues.
However this illustrations were born out of my experience in Syria, and I present an aspect of my identity in the illustrations: the pale colors I experienced in my city. Those dull colors come from the socialist regime of our youth.
For my films, which are mostly animated, we work on concepts of character design, i.e. the visual representations of character development.
For Ongoing, I used animation software and the digitizer. Creating these illustrations in Syria was not easy. I knew that at any time that authorities could come to my house and demand to see what I was working on. However it’s safer doing digital art - you can hide the files on your computer and script and easily if necessary.,
>>Excerpt from Sulafa Hijazi’s contribution to the Syria Speaks anthology.
'It is not merely the war that is an ongoing process – it is also the continuing cycle of violence and her own process of finding a diasporic identity between her childhood of being taught to think in terms of the regime’s systems, the traumas of war and her new-found freedom.,
>>Excerpt from Susanne Cordes's article in KVINFOs Web Magazine.
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