2025
Screen-print on soap, silver metallic and acrylic paint Language: Arabic
Poem:
Ask not “Al-Sham” what birthed the black.
Each stone there bears a sorrow’s track
A shroud of grief it wears.
In every street, A shadow slain
And bread’s perfume in ash and pain
Still lingers in the air.
You bore the sword with hardened hand
And fire you sowed across the land
In jasmine’s tender chest.
The land rose up, defied the shade
Though years went by, it never swayed
It burned within the dust, still blessed.
So wash your hands with laurel rain
With hail that falls to cleanse the stain
And walk
If faith yet burns
Raw Materials – Oil, Earth & Identity:
More than just a piece of soap, it is a piece of history. Boiled in large cauldrons, following time-honored recipes, it carries the scent and heritage of Syria within it.
Its main ingredient, olive oil, comes from the fertile landscapes of northern and central Syria from places like Idlib and Hama, where olive trees have taken root for centuries. The laurel oil, which gives it its unmistakable fragrance, comes from the coast, especially from Latakia, where the air carries the salt of the sea and the breath of ancient forests.
These oils unite in the cauldron to become more than just a product, they merge into a symbol. A symbol of Syria itself. A country made of many ingredients, voices, and stories – complex, contradictory, and yet profoundly intertwined.
Laurel Soap / Aleppo Soap and Its Silent Victory Over the Dictatorship:
The international silence echoed on. Cold geopolitical maneuvers struck empty ground, diplomatic façades gleamed rigidly and yet the regime fell. It collapsed under the weight of the dead, under the voices that could no longer be silenced. It was boiled while bombs fell. Sold while the streets disappeared beneath rubble. It outlived the dictator and it will outlive the next, should such a time ever come again. A bar of soap will forever carry the scent of freedom within it.
