Turning Ruins Into Works of Art

"Residents of the city of Binnish in Idlib Rif have decided to create art out of destruction by painting murals on buildings devastated in fighting."

Residents of the city of Binnish in Idlib Rif have decided to create art out of destruction by painting murals on buildings devastated in fighting.

Aziz al-Asmar, 44, teamed up with another local resident, who asked to remain anonymous, to produce street art they felt reflected the reality of life in Syria.

“I started painting the walls of houses destroyed in Binnish since the beginning of the Syrian revolution,” al-Asmar said. “I replaced the military slogans written on the walls of schools with educational ones encouraging students to learn, as well as other phrases encouraging people to remain positive and paintings reflecting the living conditions of Syrians, hoping that my message would be heard by the whole word. These houses have been destroyed, but our will won’t be destroyed.”

Aziz said that his paintings were intended to show hope for the future as well as love and respect for the martyrs, the detained and people forced to become refugees. He added that the most important work was one depicting Karim, a child who lost an eye when his house in Eastern Ghouta was shelled.

Ahmad Obeid visited Binnish and came back with these photographs.