Expo spotlights challenges of Syrians

The ‘Peace to Aleppo’ photo exhibition has been opened at Katara–The Cultural Village Foundation in the presence of Qatar Museums chairperson HE Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani.
The fortnight long exhibition, featuring pictures taken by the leading French-Syrian photojournalist Ammar Abd Rabbo, was inaugurated by Katara general manager Dr Khalid bin Ibrahim al-Sulaiti.
HH the Emir’s cultural adviser HE Dr Hamad bin Abdulaziz al-Kuwari, Qatar Museums vice chairman Sheikh Hassan bin Mohamed bin Ali al-Thani, prominent entrepreneur and Darwish Holding chairman and managing director Bader Abdullah al-Darwish, French ambassador Eric Chevallier and other diplomats were present.
Over 30 pictures are showcased at the exhibition, jointly organised by Katara and the French embassy in Doha. The photographs document both the extraordinary and mundane aspects of everyday life in the war torn city of Aleppo in Syria.
“Hosting this important exhibition stems from Katara’s keenness to continuously support the art of photography as a significant mechanism to disseminate awareness on the importance of photographs at conveying messages of peace on the regional and international levels,” Dr al-Sulaiti said.  
French ambassador Chevallier described the exhibition as a testimony of the Syrian people’s perseverance “while they are suffering due to their calls for democracy and freedom.”
The envoy pointed out that the exhibition is a part of the Francophone days, in a bid to stress the human value of solidarity as an integrated part of culture.
Rabbo explained that the exhibition illustrates people’s fighting spirit to survive, despite the challenges.
One of the photographs depicts people chanting and dancing during an anti-regime demonstration in Bustan Al Qasr, while another shows a father and daughter move from one house to another as they avoid the sniper fire exposed street in Jallum area of Aleppo.
The exhibition has already been shown in Mandelieu, south of France in May 2014, Paris in November 2014 as well as in Alencon, west of France in March 2015.
Five photographs of the show were also shown in Berlin, Germany, as part of a collective exhibition entitled “My Voice Rings Out For Syria”.
As for the Doha exhibition, one of the images was chosen by the famous artist Banksy, and was shown at his “Dismaland” project in England, in August and September 2015.