Fat City Gallery this weekend will host Omar Alshogre to discuss his experiences of political imprisonment in Syria. (Courtesy photo)
The Fat City Gallery is hosting three days of events and an exhibition this weekend aimed at exposing ongoing human rights abuses in Syria and rallying an Aspen audience to the cause.
The gallery will host detention and torture survivor Omar Alshogre, who will give testimony of his experience Friday, followed by a exhibition of images by the anonymous photographer known as “Caesar” who has documented the Assad regime’s murder of detainees, and will close with a screening Sunday of the documentary “Red Lines.”
Courtesy The Future is Unwritten
When conceptual artist and doctor Ahmed Mater’s “Magnetism” sold for $120,000 at an auction hosted by Christie’s in London last month, it began what is planned as a year-long partnership between international artist, public health leaders and the Aspen-based Open Mind Project to help support vulnerable communities affected by the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The artwork is a sculptural piece focused on a cuboid magnet that resembles the Kaʿbah of the Meccan rites. Around the cube are spiral patterns made of tens of thousands of particles of iron evoking the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca. Given that Mecca was seen mostly empty for the first time in its history during 2020’s pandemic, this work was chosen to launch the Healing Arts Auction series.