Azza Abo Rebieh

Azza Abo Rebieh was born in Hama and attended Damascus University, where she obtained her degree from the Faculty of Fine Arts in 2002. A well-known printmaker and multimedia artist, Abo Rebieh draws on the Syrian war in her work, with themes of activism, incarceration and exile given prominence. Drawings made of fellow prisoners during a short period of imprisonment at the time of the war have elevated her profile and, along with other work, brought her widespread international media coverage, including a feature in the New York Times. These works include pieces in which she has worked from memories, retained as snapshots in her mind, to produce etchings and drawings of the experience of being locked up alongside fellow activists, since her release and now living in exile. 

Abo Rebieh works with a variety of media, including watercolours, oils, ink and even thread and tulle on canvas, using specific techniques and methods. For her printmaking, she takes inspiration from the great Spanish printmaker Francisco Goya, who used printing as a means to reproduce and circulate images and political messages of the time to a wider audience. In her own work, Abo Rebieh engraves on copper plates, using a printing press to imprint the inked plates onto paper, producing pieces that are primarily monochrome.

Abo Rebieh’s work has been exhibited worldwide, featuring in shows in Damascus, Beirut, Paris, Rome, London, Barcelona, Istanbul, Oslo, New York and Chicago, among others. It can be found in several prestigious public and private collections, with three pieces having been obtained by the British Museum. Today, she lives and works in Lebanon.