Born in Hama, Azza Abo Rebieh (1980) obtained her degree from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Damascus University, in 2002. Graduating with accolades in printmaking, her thesis project won a prize at the Ostrobothnian Museum, Youth Engravers Competition in Vaasa-Finland.
From the beginning of the syrian revolution she played an active role, illustrating and commenting on the events through her drawings and graffiti and the marionettes she made for children in the regions under siege; this led to her arrest in 2015. During her four-month imprisonment she managed to create portraits of her fellow prisoners, depicting their living conditions. After being released, she eventually fled to Lebanon where she decided to bear witness to what she had lived through and to the fate of her fellow prisoners who had remained behind.
In 2020 she did a four-month residency at the American Academy in Rome and a one-month residency at the Bogliasco Foundation, in Genoa.
Abo Rebieh’s work has been exhibited in Damascus, Beirut, Paris, Rome, Istanbul, Sofia, Uzice, Barcelona, Vaasa, London, Oslo, New York and Chicago. Her work is in private collections and public institutions such as The British Museum. Awards include the first prize in the Annual Youth Exhibition in Damascus 2006 and the third prize in Colour of Damascus 2005, Italy, curated by The European Commission Delegation.
