A few months after his arrival in Germany, graphic artist Ramy Orfaly managed to convince the Germans of his talent for drawing and was invited to participate in a festival organized by the Rhinebach “Kunstforum (99).” In this festival, the Syrian artist presented several paintings, including the one above, called the “Flashback.” What is the message that Rami wanted to convey to the German audience?
A flashback is an artistic way to used to cut the chronological or spatial sequence of a story, play or film, to evoke a scene from the past. The background of the “Flashback” painting depicts Ramy’s old neighborhood in Syria where he used to live. Ramy was watching television and saw his neighborhood had been destroyed, this inspired him to do this painting. Rami tried to use this painting to divide the past and future. The couch in the photo is the same couch he has in Germany, and is used to divided the painting between the past and the present. “The crow in the painting is the harbinger of the crimes that have occurred in history,” he told InfoMigrants. The woman in the painting embodies humanity.