Here's a really good story going into the new year: a local man is raising money to help his friend, a Syrian refugee who is new to Canada, continue his art.
John Ramsay launched a GoFundMe campaign for his pal Hasan Alsaleh, an artist from Syria. In John's words...
"Hasan and his family arrived in Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»one month ago after spending the last three years in a refugee camp outside of Istanbul. Hasan, his wife and four daughters moved to Surrey last week where they are starting their new life in Canada.
Hasan is an accomplished artist who supported his family through painting, teaching and making beautifully crafted boxes. The civil war ripped that away from him and only after their neighbourhood was destroyed and family members were detained and held by Assad’s forces did he flee with his family to the safety of a refugee camp in Turkey.
Meeting an artist from Syria was pure serendipity! We connected when I volunteered to accompany his family to the East Van Panto at the York Theatre in early December. That was the beginning of a new friendship.
Today I visited Hasan and his family. He was working on a small piece and I was startled - it was a view of bombed out buildings and streets filled with rubble. He told me that it was where they used to live. It struck me that he is like every artist I know, he makes art to understand the world and communicate that unique vision to others.
I looked at his art supplies and it consisted of a small set of oil paints and a couple of brushes. He told me that it had cost him $6. He commented that the quality was not good which troubled him but he was happy to have them. Hasan and his family arrived with few possessions and his studio supplies in Damascus are a distant memory.
What’s happening in Syria is a profound assault upon human rights and needs to be documented through the passionate eye of an artist.
I’m hoping to raise a modest amount of money for art supplies so that he can do what artists must do which is express themselves and tell their story. As an artist or supporter of the arts I’m hoping you’ll get behind this project. I find it important on several levels – giving an artist the simple tools to express themselves and be recognized is a given but presenting honest and heartfelt images of the human tragedy unfolding in Syria is how art changes everything.
Here’s my simple plan. I’d like to raise $2,000 because it’s not about buying materials for a couple of paintings but giving Hasan enough tools, paint and canvases to put together a small exhibition so that he can tell his story and have a chance to restart his career here in Canada. I’ll be behind this project every step and work on his behalf to make sure this not for profit project is exhibited and promoted.
I’m hoping you’ll join me in supporting Hasan and his art.
I’ve set up this Gofundme account so that you can support Hasan. No donation is too small, or too large!
If you have questions or would like additional information please contact me.
604-842-0844
Help spread the word!"
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