Boundaries is inspired by the physical and conceptual barriers placed between the artist and her home. Soulaf was born and raised in Damascus, Syria. She moved to the United States in 2006 to study fine arts at Indiana State University. Five years after her arrival the Syrian Revolution/Syrian Civil War began. In 2014 Abas went to Jordan to work with Syrian children at multiple refugee camps. While at one of the refugee camps Soulaf was only 6 miles from the Syrian border. Her home, her ... view more »
Boundaries is inspired by the physical and conceptual barriers placed between the artist and her home. Soulaf was born and raised in Damascus, Syria. She moved to the United States in 2006 to study fine arts at Indiana State University. Five years after her arrival the Syrian Revolution/Syrian Civil War began. In 2014 Abas went to Jordan to work with Syrian children at multiple refugee camps. While at one of the refugee camps Soulaf was only 6 miles from the Syrian border. Her home, her family, was a 10-minute car ride from the camp. The only thing that stood between Soulaf and her home was a border. On that day, 10 minutes away from her home, Soulaf felt the weight of that border. A border that was loaded with memories and weighed down by its own impossibility.
In her paintings Abas’ s invites the viewer into a world of blended watercolors and blurred boundaries. Watercolor flows like water flows in nature. Soulaf methodically draws black outlines to slow the flood of memories but not to stop them. Those boundaries are created out of necessity to parse that moment, and moments like it, when the flow of water drowns us.
Soulaf has exhibited nationally and internationally. She has received multiple awards and residencies for her work including the Social Justice Residency in Santa Fe, NM, and ELCE Grants from Indiana State University. Soulaf Abas is an Assistant professor of studio arts at Rose Hulman University in Terre Haute, Indiana where she lives with her two dogs, cat, and many plants.
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