David Najib Kasir, a Milwaukee-based painter whose work consists of personal narratives and cultural history or events. In recent years, Kasir's work draws on stories from his parents’ journey to the U.S. and the current crisis from where they migrated (his mother migrated from Syria, and his father, Iraq). As an artist born here, Kasir reveals his cultural identity in paint and designs to inform viewers on the recent wars in Syria, in hopes of helping them develop an understanding of the millions of voiceless Arabs now living in chaos and disarray.

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By using beautiful traditional Arab designs called Zellige to dress the figures in his work, Kasir shows the beauty of a culture and the tragedy as families try to hold on to it and each other as everything around them falls apart.

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Kasir has a BFA in painting from Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (2001)

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Kasir interrogates the role Western media plays in constructing cultural narratives, while centering a caring lens on the destruction of Syria, the Middle East, and its people through large-scale paintings. The work starts from a personal place. “Iraq was my father’s country, and Syria is my mother’s as well as the second home of my youth. It’s where my extended family were living. It’s where there were buildings I slept in and streets where I played tag and other games as a child. I’ve witnessed years of destruction of my countries from US invasions, with no regard from Western media of civilian casualties.”

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This personal experience fueled Kasir’s anger and frustration, giving way to large-scale paintings that place viewers in the center of devastated neighborhoods. Viewers are confronted with encounters between civilians and soldiers, families embracing as they look on at the fallen buildings and rubble.

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Making visible what happens to civilians is the intent of each work and is placed in the larger context of cultural significance through the use of Arab designs. Kasir explains, “I entrap the Syrian landscapes in Arab mosaic patterns, not as a backdrop, but as a culture of people trying to hold up their structured environment as best as they can with little to no help from others.”

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