Inspiring peace and unity is Issa Touma’s goal with Art Camping. The project was started two years ago as a way to bring “positive energy” to Aleppo’s streets, Touma says.
“We do not take sides in the conflict,” he adds, and that is one of the biggest messages Art Camping sends: art is for everyone to enjoy and take part in. “There shouldn’t be war in the cities, only the people suffer,” Touma says, and that’s why he focuses on peaceful, uplifting projects for all to enjoy.
Among the projects Art Camping has done in recent days is the memory box, in which people add stories to remember down the line. “After every war, people forget the small stories, and remember only the headlines,” it says on an Art Camping photo of the memory box, “…[Our] box will carry our small stories, our dreams and daily feelings to [the] end of this conflict.”
More recently, Touma and Art Campers created a large sign made of CDs, spelling “Art” and “Peace” in Arabic and English. They hung it in Aleppo’s old city, where many displaced Syrians are now living.
Other Art Camping projects include “Textures of the city we lost” and the “Smile campaign”, in which they painted rooftop satellites as big yellow smiley faces.
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