Disgraceful-Get A Room/ ماما يا عيب*
An Arabic expression when someone does a “disgraceful” thing that is related to honor or manners, translated exactly as “shame on you Kiddo”. This is to everyone who is struggling with their sexuality or not out to their families yet, you need to know that you are not alone and you are loved.
Boris x Da Vinci
A digital illustration of the UK’s Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, with the Arabic word "AssFace". This work is in response to Johnson calling Gay people "Bum boys" as well as his calling Hijab-wearing women "letterboxes".
Black Trans Lives Matter
This artwork is based on a series of photographs by Andy Warhol called “Ladies and Gentlemen”/1975.
Sara Hegazy
Egyptian queer activist Sara Hegazy committed suicide in her exile in Canada. Sara’s crime was to raise a rainbow flag during the Mashrou3 Leila concert in September 2017. Public outcry and a campaign of dehumanization led to her imprisonment. She fled Egypt to exile in Canada, uprooted from her family, her community and her country that she deeply loved. Her mom died and she was not able to say goodbye.
Artist Biography
Alqumit Alhamad is a 28 year old native of Syria and now a refugee who has been granted residency in Sweden. He is a self-taught visual artist and illustrator. He initially started academic studies of Fine Arts back in Aleppo, the economic capital of Syria, before this was disrupted by the onset of the civil war and the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.
It was not only the war that triggered his seeking a safe haven, but also a need he had nurtured to find the right space for artistic self-expression and actualisation. Alhamad has sought to engage with causes that relate to him personally, such as LGBTQ rights, refugee and immigrant issues, gender and women, mental illness, among many others. His work and art are inseparable: how individuals come to terms with who they are, especially when they stand out from the group for matters relating to identity, emotions, illness, etc. is largely and frequently depicted in his art.
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