• Emel_Aflak_Cross_fire_2022_01_Web-res

    Emel Aflak, Crossfire, 2022. Interactive Installation, Hemp bags, Bread, Polyester doves, Sound, light, 1000 x 200 x 310 cm. View at Once upon a Time – Aleppo Expiation by MADAD Art Foundation.

  • Emel_Aflak_Cross_fire_2022_02_Web-res

    Emel Aflak, Crossfire, 2022. Interactive Installation, Hemp bags, Bread, Polyester doves, Sound, light, 1000 x 200 x 310 cm. Walkthrough view at Once upon a Time – Aleppo Expiation by MADAD Art Foundation.

  • Emel_Aflak_Dust_to_Dust_01_Web-res

    Emel Aflak, Dust to dust, Diplomatic Act, 2025. HD video, 15sec loop. Photo detail: thumbnail sheet.

  • Emel_Aflak_Dust_to_Dust_02_Web-res

    Emel Aflak, Dust to dust, Grenade, 2025. HD video, 15sec loop. Photo detail: thumbnail sheet.

  • Emel_Aflak_Fharagh_(space)_2023_Web-res

    Emel Aflak, Fharagh (space), 2023. Video Installation (video projection on white wall), dimensions: 300 x 500 cm. The Cirque Expiation by MADAD Art Foundation.

  • Emel_Aflak_Quadrant_prodaction_of_the_Workshop_Web-res

    Emel Aflak, impact of view, 2021. Mixed media on canvas. Installation view at Quadrant, production of the Workshops Exhibition National Center for Visual Arts, Damascus.

  • Emel_Aflak_Re-shiting_2026_Web-res

    Emel Aflak, Re-shiting, 2026. Ink, acrylic, glue on pH-neutral paper pulp from recycled archives. Work-in-progress at studio space.

Emel Aflak (Syria) is a Damascus-based visual artist and researcher whose practice spans video, installation, and traditional printmaking. His work explores the intersections of materials, collective memory, and social fragmentation, often using nontraditional media such as ash and charcoal.

During his residency, Emel will develop a collaborative installation with Berlin-based artist Khaled Abdulwahed, exploring the urban evolution of Damascus through historical maps. Emel will also investigate his great-uncle’s archival history as a soldier in the British Army during WWII. Throughout these projects, he will apply his “Re-sheeting” methodology to transform archival findings and documents into handmade artistic archives.

Emel recently received the Talka Promotion Prize for Young Art from Syria, House of Syrian Art in Bremen, Germany (2026). He has participated in exhibitions such as (Dis)organizing Otherwise: Counter-Public Spheres, Bard College Berlin, at Fire Station, Monopol, Berlin (2025), and Once Upon a Time – Aleppo in Al-Hatab Square, Aleppo, Syria (2022). His projects include Cross fire, an interactive installation (2022), Fharagh (space), a video installation (2023), and AID series (2024).

Emel was born in Damascus, Syria, and is currently based there.

With support from:

Rambourg Foundation

Artist’s website

Link

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Please note all artist-in-residence biographies are accurate at the time of their residency. For up-to-date bios please visit the artist’s website.