Mieren, Ali Al Allaf 

Ali Al Allaf began painting in Syria.

“I fled Syria and had to leave my family behind because I was in danger as an Alawite artist. I have a wonderful family: my wife, two daughters and a son.

I worked as a lecturer at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Damascus from 2006 to 2021.
I designed postage stamps for my country and painted and sold many large canvases in Syria.
About ten years ago, I began studying the symbolism in the holy books. I noticed that there are many common elements and symbols in the three books: the Torah, the Bible and the Qur’an. For each symbol – such as the cow and the fish, amongst others – I studied the stories in those books and visualised them by creating a painting”

Ali is working on his doctoral thesis in Syria on the similarities between the Qur’an, the Bible and the Torah. He has already completed ten years of research, but was forced to leave his entire archive behind. In his work, he illustrates the interconnection between the three religions, using a multitude of colours. “We are bound together by love and hope. There are many colours associated with this.”