On the 14th of March 2023, under the patronage of H.E. Mrs. Haifa Najjar, the Minister of Culture, the Jordan Office of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS) celebrated, together with its partners Wishbox and Qalam Hurr, the opening event for the art exhibition “Jordan: From Dreams to Reality” at the Farid Fakhredeen Atelier, Amman. The artworks of the 18 artists are also presented in an Artbook which was put together by KAS, Wishbox and Omar Abdallat, the director of QalamHurr and launched at the opening event. This project aims to shed light on the challenges and issues that Jordan confronts today, while also envisioning a better future. The artworks address topics, such as social imbalances, violence against women, female political participation, humanitarian issues, mental health, peace activism, regional conflicts, poverty, child labor, traditional life and cultural heritage of Jordan.
After a warm Welcome, the event was opened with a speech, given by the KAS Jordan resident representative Dr. Edmund Ratka in which he stressed how crucial it is to provide young artists with a platform to speak. In the following speech, Ms. Rana Sweis, Journalist and the Director of Wishbox Media, presented the idea behind the project and the journey of the project. Mr. Omar Al Abdallat, who came up with the idea for this project explained in his speech the need of mentoringyoung artists and the importance of a network and sufficient support, which he would have wished for his own earlier career. We were very pleased to welcome Representatives of the Ministry of Culture and to listen to the remarks, given by the Ministry. To complete the introduction to the Art exhibition, Ms. Nawal Abdulhamid and Mr. KhaldounHijazeen, two of the exhibited artists, talked about their artworks.
During the evening, everyone had the chance to look at the artworks and to get more insight on the artworks by some of the artists, who attended the opening. A guide through the exhibition was also provided by the Artbook, which was handed out for the first time. The artworks range from installations, to digital prints, to oil on canvas.
This Art Exhibition is the result of a two-year project “Arts & Politics” which went through different stages since 2021 and was organized by KAS Jordan and its partners Wishbox and Omar Al Abdallat, a well-known Jordanian Cartoonist and the owner of the creative company Qalam Hurr.
During the first part of the project, young women were trained in online workshops to create political and social artwork. In May 2021 the first exhibition entitled “She is Art” took place at Fann wa Chai, Amman. Much of their artwork included activism for causes, such as gender equality, combating discrimination, and violence against women.
In the Fall of 2021, KAS Jordan, Wishbox Media, QalamHurr, I Have Learned Academy, and oVRLebanon featured 34 artworks in a virtual exhibition with the title “Jordan: From Dreams to Reality”, which is still available online. The launch included a virtual panel discussion with the artists on political issues and the virtual room gives a glimpse into which political, social and cultural topics in Jordan matter the most to the artists.
Omar Al Abdallat gave one-on-one mentoring sessions for one artist each month throughout the year 2022. He provided them with personal mentoring, followed by the creation of an artwork and a promotional campaign by Wishbox Media trough short videos in which the artists were interviewed.
