• Syrian, b. 1980 Lives and works in Berlin, Germany One of the most prominent Syrian contemporary artists, Tammam Azzam is...

    Syrian, b. 1980

    Lives and works in Berlin, Germany

     
    One of the most prominent Syrian contemporary artists, Tammam Azzam is known for creating powerful and poetic works that chronicle the current state of his homeland. Already a successful painter in Damascus, Azzam relocated to Dubai, and later Germany, following the outbreak of violence in Syria in 2011. 
     
    Since 2013, Azzam has developed a dynamic practice that includes painting, installation, and digital and paper collage. The artist’s depictions of Syria’s broken surfaces are a meditation on rebuilding a lost home and destroyed reality through imagery. As he pieces together fragments of Damascus from memory, Azzam delves into an exercise of remembering and reconstruction. 
     
    Azzam received his BFA from the University of Damascus in 2001. Recent solo exhibitions include Dämmerung und Morgelicht, Rudolf Stolz Museum, Sexten, Italy (2020); Tammam Azzam, Kunstverein Iserlohn, Germany (2019); and Paper, City Museum of Odenburg, Germany (2018). In addition to group exhibitions at the Aga Khan Museum of Art, Toronto, CA; American University, Washington, D.C; Busan Museum of Art, Seoul, South Korea; Middle East Institute, New York, NY; and Wallach Gallery at Columbia University, New York, NY, he has contributed to large-scale international exhibitions such as the Sanctuary (2017-2018) and Home Land Security (2016), both organized by the FOR-SITE Foundation, San Francisco, CA; Bienial del Sur, Caracas, Venezuela (2018); KINLIX Festival, Maribor, Slovenia (2018); Vancouver Biennale, where he was an artist-in-residence (2014); FotoFest Biennial, Houston, TX (2014); Dak’Art: Biennial of Contemporary African Art, Dakar, Senegal (2014); and the 30th Biennial of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana, Slovenia (2013). 
     
    In 2016, Azzam received a fellowship placement with the prestigious Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg Institute for Advanced Study in Delmenhorst, Germany.
     
    Artist CV (PDF)
  • Works
    • Tammam Azzam Untitled, 2017 Wool, viscose 75 x 49 inches
      Tammam Azzam
      Untitled, 2017
      Wool, viscose
      75 x 49 inches
      Inquire
  • Exhibitions
  • Press

  • Maan Jalal, “Syrian artist Tammam Azzam grapples with man-made destruction in latest exhibition,” The National News, January 14, 2024

    Stephen Applebaum, “Syrian artists confront trauma in the new film ‘The Story Won’t Die’,” The National, June 19, 2022

    Melissa Gronlund, “Syrian art exhibition in Washington’s Middle East Institute captures the agony of civil war” The National, May 30, 2021

    TRT World, “An artistic ode to Syria, ten years after the war,” TRT World, February 25, 2021

    Denise Marray, “Syrian artist Tammam Azzam: ‘To be an artist is an endless dream,’” Arab News, February 26, 2021

    Maria Porges, “Critics’ Pick: Tammam Azzam,” Artforum, October 18, 2019

    Jonathan Curiel, “Tamman Azzam’s Forgotten Cities Explore Destruction and the Past,” SF Weekly, October 2, 2019

    Grace Li, “The Syrian civil war abstracted, a Gold Rush city changed by time in two new Haines Gallery exhibits,” San Francisco Chronicle, September 12, 2019

    Jori Finkel, “A ‘Sanctuary’ of Prayer Rugs That Respond to the Refugee Crisis,” New York Times, July 18, 2017

    Jean Schiffman, “New Presidio Exhibit Explores & Illuminates Complex Social Issues,” SF Arts, October 2016

    Jonathan Curiel, “FOR-SITE Is 20/20,” SF Weekly, September 21, 2016

    Lara Atallah, “Tammam Azzam talks about his exhibition in Dubai,” Artforum, February 23, 2016

    Corinne Segal, “Exiled Syrian artist Tammam Azzam paints haunting images of his destroyed homeland,” PBS News Hour, February 12, 2016

    Dorian Batycka, “After Exile, an Artist Confronts the Aesthetics of Diaspora,” Hyperallergic, February 9, 2016

    Danna Lorch, “Artist Tammam Azzam takes us on Syria’s road into hell,” The National, January 24, 2016

    Lindsey Davis, "Confronting Crisis: An Interview with Syrian Artists Tammam Azzam, Sara Shamma & Kevork Mourad," Art21, January 21, 2016

    Kriti Bajaj, “After Damascus: Tammam Azzam’s first paintings since his exile on show in Dubai,” Art Radar Journal, January 4, 2016

    Anna Seaman, “Tammam Azzam is building bridges via art,” The National, September 26, 2015

    Daisy Wyatt, “The Syrian artist who superimposes Western masterpieces onto bombed buildings,” Independent, September 8, 2015

    Marina Lordan, ”Interview with Syrian Artist Tammam Azzam,” Aesthetica Magazine, August 6, 2014

    Jonathan Jones, “Tammam Azzam's Kiss: an unromantic commentary on the Syrian conflict,” The Guardian, February 4, 2013