Khaled Dawwa (b.1985) first received widespread attention for his ‘Clay and Knife’ project (2011), in which golem-like men, signature figures for Dawwa, are arranged in a variety of tableaux. At times, they appear malevolent and oppressive, at others, full of pathos in their desperate outcry against injustice. For the artist, they embody social and political transformations, as well as an ongoing interest in mass and dimension. His interest in sculpture stems from his childhood, and he continues to use raw clay to explore the human condition. Here Dawwa tells us about the characters that have accompanied him on his travels from Syria to France.
When I began my studies at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Damascus, I had not planned on studying sculpture, but it made sense in its study of mass and material. I worked in order to support myself during my studies, but even then, I couldn’t always afford the professional tools required for sculpting, so I resorted to simpler and more primitive methods wherever available, often making my own tools.
-ATASSI FOUNDATION
