Soulaf Abas

Soulaf Abas

Soulaf Abas (Soully) was born and raised in Damascus, Syria. In 2008 she received her Bachelors of Fine Arts from Indiana State University. Then, she returned to Syria and taught art at the Arab European University. She also spent some time translating books and articles.In 2010, she returned to ISU to get her Masters in Fine Arts. She went back to visit her family in Damascus-Syria in the summer of 2012, a year after the revolution began. To her great surprise, she found that what used to be her playground had been reduced to a pile of rubble, with bloodstains everywhere. The visit completely changed her perspective and her sense of what home means. Upon her return from Syria, she started creating images in painting and printmaking that depicted what she experienced. For the first time, her subject and her process were working together in such harmony that she finally began to understand how far painting can be pushed in terms of process and concept, and how healing it can be. Casualties become trivial numbers during times of war, and neighborhoods become insignificant remains. Soulaf’s work about “Syria” honors those who have lost everything to war, but still smile in spite of that loss. It is dedicated to those who still give, though everything was taken away from them, and to those who love, no matter what.

Residency/Fellowship

Equal Justice 2017/2018

Website

soulafabas.com

Location

Terre Haute, IN USA