A SYRIAN artist is to document the devastation of his city during wartime, in a new exhibition.

Mohamad Hafez will display scaled-down models to show the destruction of Damascus, Syria, during the Syrian war, which began in 2011.

He used scrap metal, discarded objects and paints for the “nostalgic and politically charged” dioramas, as he tells the story of his country’s cultural heritage, and how it was crushed.

“There was this fire inside me to start humanising refugees and to tell their stories,” said Mohamad, who studied in the US.

The Argus: Mohamad with one of the dioramas from his exhibition. Photo by Paul SpechtMohamad with one of the dioramas from his exhibition. Photo by Paul Specht

“I thought the bare minimum responsibility I’d have is to raise awareness as part of a western society.

“To share the stories, to show what is so rich about the region and what is so devastating that somebody could risk all their family in a little float over the Mediterranean, and how bad does it have to be for somebody to risk the lives of their own kids on a little inflatable.”

Creating the exhibition, Journeys From An Absent Present to a Lost Past, has been therapeutic and healing, Mohamad says, with each exhibit taking hundreds of hours to complete.

The artist travelled to America in 2003, where he studied architecture – which has enabled to him to create the models using sketches and memories from a sorely-missed homeland.

The Argus: Mohamad left Syria in 2003 to study in America. Photo courtesy of New York TimesMohamad left Syria in 2003 to study in America. Photo courtesy of New York Times

Despite the small size of each piece, Mohamad hopes to convey the sheer loss experienced in a country besieged by war through the intricacies and painstaking detail in his work.

Mohamad has enjoyed huge success as an artist and architect, most notably as a recipient of a 2018 Connecticut Arts Hero Award for his “extensive and continuous body of work on issues such as the Syrian civil war, the worldwide refugee crisis, and an overall desire to counter hate speech”.

READ MORE: Brighton Festival promises pre-pandemic scale in return in May

Journeys From An Absent Present to a Lost Past will be held at Fabrica, in Duke Street, Brighton, from Friday, April 15 to Sunday, May 29, 2022, as part of Brighton Festival.

The full line up for Brighton festival is now available via www.brightonfestival.org.