NEHAD
ABD
ALKADER
Nehad Abd Alkader was born in 1978 in the village of Al-Nawfaliyah, Syria. His early life in the city of Raqqa played a significant role in shaping his artistic perspective. After graduating from the Institute of Fine Arts in 2003, Kader opened his own studio and worked as a drawing teacher at an institute for people with special needs. This experience not only honed his skills but also instilled in him a passion for helping others through art.
The outbreak of war in Syria forced Kader to relocate to Lebanon in 2013, where he continued to pursue his artistic endeavors. His time in Beirut was marked by numerous exhibitions, which showcased his unique style and perspective. In 2018, Kader made another significant move to Kitchener, Canada, where he currently resides with his family.
EMOTIONAL CARTOGRAPHY
Kader's artistic works are a testament to his life experiences, reflecting his childhood, societal concerns, and the political and social reality of his time. His style is characterized by a blend of abstract and expressive elements, often featuring faces that are both emotive and thought-provoking. These are not idealized portraits but maps of displacement. Wrinkled, screaming, or dissolving into silence, each face carries the weight of time, exile, and the unspeakable.
Newspapers, with their chaotic headlines and forgotten events, act as historical witnesses—carriers of collective anxiety and societal trauma. Each faded or torn sheet bears traces of real-world tragedies, echoing themes of impermanence and instability. When Nehad overlays these with expressive faces, he forges a layered dialogue between personal emotion and global unrest, between the intimate and the political.
