Sara Shamma Explained

Sara Shamma سارة شمّة
Birth Date:	26 November 1975
Birth Place:	Damascus, Syria
Nationality:	Syrian
Field:	Painting
Training:	Faculty of fine arts Damascus University Damascus, Syria
Movement:	Surrealism, Hyperrealism, Figurative

Sara Shamma (Arabic: سارة شمّة) (born 26 November 1975) is a UK-based Syrian artist whose paintings are figurative in style.^[1] The importance of storytelling and narrative is paramount in her work. Shamma has a long-standing interest in the psychology associated with the suffering of individuals and has made work on the subject of war, modern slavery and human trafficking. Her works can be divided into series that reflect prolonged periods of research.

Professional career

Shamma, was born in Damascus, Syria (1975) to a Syrian father and Lebanese mother.^[2] She graduated from the Painting Department of the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Damascus in 1998. She moved to London in 2016^[3] where she currently lives and works, under the auspices of an Exceptional Talent Visa. Shamma has taught at the Adham Ismail Fine Arts Institute in Damascus (1997–2000).^[4]

Shamma was selected as one of the prize winners for the 2004 BP Portrait Award.^[5] She was subsequently invited to participate in a number of solo and group exhibitions around the world, including Q at the Royal College of Art, 2013, the Royal Society of Portrait Painters' Annual Exhibition at the Mall Galleries in 2013,^[6] and NordArt^[7] in Büdelsdorf, Germany in 2012. In 2010 she was selected as the 'Celebrity Partner' artist to the United Nations' World Food Programme (WFP).^[8]

Selected solo exhibitions

• 2019 – Sara Shamma: Modern Slavery, Bush House, The Strand, King's College London, London
• 2017 – London, Art Sawa Gallery, Dubai, UAE^{[9] [10]}
• 2015 – World Civil War Portraits, The Old Truman Brewery, London^{[11] [12] [13] [14] [15]}
• 2014 – Diaspora, Art Sawa Gallery, Dubai^{[16] [4]}
• 2013 – Q, Royal College of Art, London^{[17] [18]}
• 2011 – Birth, Art House, Damascus
• 2009 – Love, 360 MALL, Kuwait
• 2008 – Sara Shamma Finishing Touch, Knowledge Village, Dubai
• 2008 – Sara 1978, Art House, Damascus
• 2007 – Music, Cornish Club Event Gallery, Kuwait
• 2004 – Sara Shamma, Kalemaat Art Gallery, Aleppo and Kuwait
• 2002 – Sara Shamma, Nassir Choura Art Gallery, Damascus
• 2001 – Sara Shamma, Shell Cultural Club, Damascus
• 1999 – Sara Shamma, French Cultural Center, Damascus

Selected group exhibitions

• 2019 – The Ruth Borchard Self-portrait Prize, Piano Nobile, King's Place, London
• 2019 – Multi-colour, 9 Cork Street, London^[19]
• 2018 – The Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London
• 2018 – New collective show, Mark Hachem Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon
• 2015 – Guest artist, 33rd Emirates Fine Arts Society Annual Exhibition, Sharjah Art Museum
• 2013 – The Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition, The Mall Galleries, London
• 2013 – Florence Biennale, Florence
• 2012 – Nord Art 2012 organised by KiC – Kunst in der Carlshütte, Büdelsdorf
• 2010 – Art Prize 2010, Kendall College of Art and Design, Grand Rapids, Michigan
• 2010 – Nord Art 2010 organized by KiC – Kunst in der Carlshütte, Büdelsdorf
• 2010 – Contemporary Art from the Middle East, Ayyam Gallery, Dubai
• 2008/9 – Damas-Paris, Regards Croisés, The Arab World Institute, Paris and National Museum, Damascus
• 2008 – UAE Through Arabian Eyes, International Financial Centre, Dubai
• 2008 – Syrian Artists, Souq Wakef Art Center, Doha
• 2008 – The Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize, South Australian Museum, Adelaide and the National Archives of Australia, Canberra
• 2007 – Panorama of Syrian Arts, Catzen Arts Centre at The American University, Washington D.C.
• 2006 – Syrian Artists, Syrian Cultural Centre, Paris
• 2005-06 – International Painting Prize of the Castellon County Council, ESPAId, Castellon and the Municipal Arts Centre of Alcorcon, Madrid
• 2005 – Women and Arts, International Vision, Expo Sharjah, Sharjah
• 2004/5 BP Portrait Award, National Portrait Gallery, London; Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter; Aberdeen Art Gallery, Aberdeen; Royal West of England Academy, Bristol; Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Aberystwyth
• 2004 – Syrian Artists, National Library, Madrid
• 2003 – Festival du Monde Arabe de Montreal, Montreal
• 2002 – Syrian Artists, Gallery Amber, Leiden and Enschede, The Netherlands
• 2002 – International Artists, Gallery M-Art, Vienna
• 2002 – Mediterranean Biennial, Kheir El Din Palace, Tunis
• 2001 – Two Syrian Artists, Coventry Museum, Coventry
• 2001 – Sharjah Biennial, Sharjah
• 2001 – Cairo Biennial, Cairo

Selected public collections

• British Council
• National Museum, Damascus
• Ministry of Culture, Damascus
• Spanish Cultural Center, Damascus

Awards and honours

• 2019 – Artist-in-residence with the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King's College London^[20]
• 2019 – Shortlisted Asian Women of Achievement Awards,^[21] London
• 2019 – Shortlisted Ruth Borchard Self-portrait Prize,^[22] London
• 2013 – 4th prize and Special Mention, Florence Biennale^[23]
• 2010 – Shortlisted NordArt Prize, the Annual International Exhibition, Kunst in der Carlshütte,^[7] Büdelsdorf, Germany
• 2010 – United Nations Food programmes Celebrity Partner
• 2009 – Second Prize in Painting of the Art/Literary Competition, Sculptural Pursuit magazine,^[24] United States
• 2008 – 1st prize Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize,^[25] South Australian Museum, Adelaide, Australia
• 2006 – Fine Arts Syndicate Award, Damascus
• 2006 – Member of the jury for the Annual Exhibition for Syrian Artists, Damascus
• 2005 – Shortlisted for the International Painting Prize of the Castellon County Council,^[26] Castellon, Spain
• 2004: Fourth Prize at the BP Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery,^[5] London, UK
• 2002 – Represented Syria in the Mediterranean Biennial, Kheir El Din Palace, Tunis
• 2001 – 1st prize (Golden Medal) in Latakia Biennial, Syria^[23]
• 2000 – 2nd prize Spanish Cultural Center Art Competition, Damascus
• 2000 – 2nd prize British Council Art Competition, Damascus
• 1998 – 2nd prize Youth Exhibition, Damascus

Publications

• Sara Shamma 2000-05, Damascus, 2005
• Sara Shamma 2005-07, Damascus, 2007
• Sara Shamma Music, Kuwait, 2007
• Sara Shamma, Damascus, 2008
• Sara Shamma Love, Kuwait, 2009
• Sara Shamma 2009-10, Damascus, 2011
• Sara Shamma Q by Jessica Lack, Royal College of Art, London, 2013
• Diaspora Sara Shamma by Edward Lucie-Smith, Art Sawa Gallery, Dubai, 2014
• Sara Shamma by Edward Lucie-Smith and Sacha Craddock, London, 2014
• World Civil War Portraits: Sara Shamma by Sacha Craddock, Old Truman Brewery, London, 2015
• London Sara Shamma by Charlotte Mullins, Art Sawa Gallery, London, 2017
• London Sara Shamma by Charlotte Mullins, London, 2018
• Sara Shamma: Modern Slavery by Kathleen Soriano and Dr Sian Oram, King's College London, London, 2019

External links

• Sara Shamma official website
• King's College artist in residence
• BP Portrait Award, National Portrait Gallery, London
• Mark Hachem Gallery
• Ruth Borchard Collection
• The Jalanbo Collection
• Sara Shamma's interview with Forward Magazine
• Sara Shamma WFP Celebrity Partner
• Bait al Qasid with Zahi Wehbe, Al Mayadeen TV, Beirut, Lebanon, 10 February 2019
• Artist's works show agony of war in Syria, CNN, February 2016
• Syrian artist, Sara Shamma, fled the war with her family to start a new life in Lebanon, Rome report TV, Rome, Italy, 28 August 2016
• Exiled Syrian artist paints portraits of a brutal war, Zain Asher, CNN, 12 May 2015
• Syrian artist exhibits 'World Civil War Portraits', Today programme, BBC radio 4, 13 May 2015
• Conflict of interest, the Monocle Weekly, Monocle 24, 17 May 2015
• The Syrian tragedy in Sara Shamma's paintings, Al Jazeera (Arabic), 17 May 2015
• Syrian painter ”war changed my art”, Outlook podcast, BBC, London, December, 2014
• Episode at Al Aan TV, 2011

Notes and References

1. News: Discovering Life in Painting. Middle East Institute .
2. Web site: Sara Shamma . Contemporary Art Curator Magazine . 14 July 2019 . 30 December 2021.
3. Web site: Confronting Crisis: An Interview with Syrian Artists Tammam Azzam, Sara Shamma & Kevork Mourad. 21 January 2016 .
4. Web site: SARA SHAMMA Syrian artists start to come through the looking glass. 21 February 2014.
5. Web site: BP Portrait Award 2004 - National Portrait Gallery.
6. Web site: Homepage. Mall Galleries.
7. Web site: Carlshütte Homepage.
8. Web site: Sara Shamma | WFP | United Nations World Food Programme - Fighting Hunger Worldwide . 2013-06-15 . 2014-03-30 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140330135722/http://www.wfp.org/content/sara-shamma . dead .
9. Web site: Syrian Born Artist Sara Shamma Exhibits in Dubai.
10. Web site: Syrian artist Sara Shamma unleashes the inner child in new exhibit. 14 May 2017.
11. Web site: 'A bomb almost killed my children': Meet the Syrian artist who paints terror and torment of war. www.telegraph.co.uk. 16 May 2015 .
12. News: World Civil War Portraits by Sara Shamma. The Guardian. 18 April 2015.
13. Web site: Syrian artist hopes to show human cost of conflict in new London exhibition. TheGuardian.com. 18 April 2015.
14. Web site: Sara Shamma's 'World Civil War Portraits': Painting a nation's. Independent.co.uk. 18 May 2015.
15. Web site: World War Civil War Portraits - Sara Shamma. 14 May 2015.
16. Web site: The diaspora dilemma: Sara Shamma's paintings look for hope in times of loss. 16 November 2014.
17. Web site: criticismism » Blog Archive » Sara Shamma, Q (2011) . www.criticismism.com . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150102134918/http://www.criticismism.com/2013/12/01/sara-shamma-q-2011/ . 2015-01-02.
18. Web site: Artist's Statement: Sara Shamma on Syria, Lebanon and art being "bigger than wars" | Culture24.
19. Web site: Speaking to the Syrian Artist Behind Her Heartbreaking Pictures Inspired by Her Homeland. 25 March 2019.
20. Web site: Sara Shamma in the Health Service and Population Research Department . www.kcl.ac.uk . 5 May 2020.
21. Web site: 2019. Asian Women of Achievement Awards.
22. Web site: Prize Exhibition 2019 – Ruth Borchard Collection . 2019-08-25 . 2019-05-31 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190531153632/https://ruthborchard.org.uk/category/exhibition-2019/ . dead .
23. Web site: Syrian Born Artist Sara Shamma Exhibits In Dubai . www.artlyst.com . 5 May 2020 . 22 April 2017.
24. Web site: Home . sculpturalpursuit.com.
25. Web site: Archived copy . 2013-06-16 . 2014-09-01 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140901070435/http://naa.gov.au/about-us/media/images/2008-waterhouse/rhinoceros.aspx . dead .
26. Web site: Melvin Martínez.