Last Checkpoint In Syria, 2023

110 x 110 cm

Digital print on cotton, Acrylic, watercolor, and pencil.

This project explores how war trauma can be conveyed through visual language. It draws on an earlier experiment with my government documents and centers on an enlarged Syrian border receipt painted in Dictatorship Blue.

The receipt is issued when crossing the final border control of Syria. For many Syrians, obtaining this document is nearly impossible due to high costs and the dangers of passing through checkpoints. For those who do, it becomes a symbol of freedom, the only official way to leave the country safely.

By focusing on this document, the project exposes the violence embedded in bureaucratic systems and the ways the Assad regime exercises control through paperwork. It highlights how state power can turn a simple form into a tool of trauma, shaping the lives and movements of its citizens.