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| An Art Installation Reflects on the Syrian Crisis and Extinguished Hopes | An Art Installation Reflects on the Syrian Crisis and Extinguished Hopes |
| (about 9 hours later) | |
| Issam Kourbaj called a friend in New York last week, seeking a ride to Manhattan from Kennedy International Airport after a flight from London. What he got was advice. | Issam Kourbaj called a friend in New York last week, seeking a ride to Manhattan from Kennedy International Airport after a flight from London. What he got was advice. |
| Take the matches out of your luggage, the friend told him. | Take the matches out of your luggage, the friend told him. |
| So Mr. Kourbaj removed the matches, all 1,579 of them, each burned and blackened, each representing a single day of the Syrian uprising running from March 2011 through the middle of July. | So Mr. Kourbaj removed the matches, all 1,579 of them, each burned and blackened, each representing a single day of the Syrian uprising running from March 2011 through the middle of July. |
| The matches were a captivating element in an installation called “Another Day Lost” that Mr. Kourbaj, an artist who was born in Syria and lives in England, set up in London last summer. He had planned to carry the components of that installation — a tent, along with dozens of small items that he arranges to create a scaled-down view of a refugee camp, and the matches — as checked luggage. | |
| Without the matches, he made another call, to Trinity Church in Lower Manhattan, where he was to set up the tent and the installation in the churchyard. He said he needed matches, lots of matches, matches that had been lit, burned and blown out. | Without the matches, he made another call, to Trinity Church in Lower Manhattan, where he was to set up the tent and the installation in the churchyard. He said he needed matches, lots of matches, matches that had been lit, burned and blown out. |
| Someone from the church bought boxes and boxes of kitchen matches, and soon parishioners were striking, and extinguishing, match after match. They had them ready for the opening of the installation on Sunday, along with several thousand more for another installation Mr. Kourbaj was to do in the church’s Parish Center, at Trinity Place and Rector Street. | Someone from the church bought boxes and boxes of kitchen matches, and soon parishioners were striking, and extinguishing, match after match. They had them ready for the opening of the installation on Sunday, along with several thousand more for another installation Mr. Kourbaj was to do in the church’s Parish Center, at Trinity Place and Rector Street. |
| “The significance of the matches is the metaphor of creating the light of day and the dark of day,” he said. “There is the lighting of the match, and the extinguishing of the match is like the sunset.” | “The significance of the matches is the metaphor of creating the light of day and the dark of day,” he said. “There is the lighting of the match, and the extinguishing of the match is like the sunset.” |
| In the installation in the churchyard, the matches form a fence circling a representation of a refugee camp made from objects like discarded books that Mr. Kourbaj has trimmed and marked. Even from fairly close, it looks like a sprawling place with a changing, temporary landscape. | In the installation in the churchyard, the matches form a fence circling a representation of a refugee camp made from objects like discarded books that Mr. Kourbaj has trimmed and marked. Even from fairly close, it looks like a sprawling place with a changing, temporary landscape. |
| Church officials noted something else: a parallel, in Advent season, to the Jews’ flight into Egypt. “We remember that the baby Jesus becomes a refugee when he and his family are forced to flee to neighboring Egypt,” the Rev. Dr. William Lupfer, the rector of Trinity Church, said. | Church officials noted something else: a parallel, in Advent season, to the Jews’ flight into Egypt. “We remember that the baby Jesus becomes a refugee when he and his family are forced to flee to neighboring Egypt,” the Rev. Dr. William Lupfer, the rector of Trinity Church, said. |
| The Rev. Winnie Varghese, the church’s director of community outreach, said the installation was a way of bearing witness to the Syrian refugee crisis. The rise of the Islamic State and the waves of Syrian refugees arriving in Europe have accelerated international efforts to end the conflict. The crisis has also provoked a backlash in the United States; many governors have said they do not want Syrian refugees resettling in their states. | The Rev. Winnie Varghese, the church’s director of community outreach, said the installation was a way of bearing witness to the Syrian refugee crisis. The rise of the Islamic State and the waves of Syrian refugees arriving in Europe have accelerated international efforts to end the conflict. The crisis has also provoked a backlash in the United States; many governors have said they do not want Syrian refugees resettling in their states. |
| But Mr. Kourbaj said he did not expect a resolution to the crisis anytime soon. | But Mr. Kourbaj said he did not expect a resolution to the crisis anytime soon. |
| He said the title of the installation came from a song by the Lebanese pop diva Fayrouz, and the installation has a subtitle that changes daily. On Wednesday, it will be “1,737 Days and Counting,” because that is how long the uprising has been going. | He said the title of the installation came from a song by the Lebanese pop diva Fayrouz, and the installation has a subtitle that changes daily. On Wednesday, it will be “1,737 Days and Counting,” because that is how long the uprising has been going. |
| On Thursday, after another match has been lit and extinguished, the subtitle will be “1,738 Days and Counting.” | On Thursday, after another match has been lit and extinguished, the subtitle will be “1,738 Days and Counting.” |
| The installation will be on view in the churchyard through Jan. 5, the 1,758th day. (The 1,579 matches he did not bring to New York figured in the subtitle of the London installation, which did not change. It opened on July 11, the 1,579th day. It ran through July 26, the 1,594th day.) | The installation will be on view in the churchyard through Jan. 5, the 1,758th day. (The 1,579 matches he did not bring to New York figured in the subtitle of the London installation, which did not change. It opened on July 11, the 1,579th day. It ran through July 26, the 1,594th day.) |
| Louisa Macmillan, a former curator at the British Museum who has worked with Mr. Kourbaj as curator of the installation, said the matches represented not only the days, but also the people. “Unburned, the matches are alike,” she said. “The moment you strike them, they take on their own characteristics. That’s poignant, because the masses of Syrian refugees are treated generically. The matches remind the audience they’re individuals, with their own individual characteristics.” | Louisa Macmillan, a former curator at the British Museum who has worked with Mr. Kourbaj as curator of the installation, said the matches represented not only the days, but also the people. “Unburned, the matches are alike,” she said. “The moment you strike them, they take on their own characteristics. That’s poignant, because the masses of Syrian refugees are treated generically. The matches remind the audience they’re individuals, with their own individual characteristics.” |
| Mr. Kourbaj wrote in the catalog for the London installations that Syrian refugees bear visible and invisible scars: “scars of permanent loss and of continuous losing.” | Mr. Kourbaj wrote in the catalog for the London installations that Syrian refugees bear visible and invisible scars: “scars of permanent loss and of continuous losing.” |
| “Lives are on hold,” he wrote, “and many are becoming citizens of a tent.” | “Lives are on hold,” he wrote, “and many are becoming citizens of a tent.” |
| Ms. Macmillan said Mr. Kourbaj’s work is a mirror — “It reflects realities,” she said — but he said he was a witness, not an advocate. “I’m an artist, not a politician,” Mr. Kourbaj said. “I do not speak the language of politicians, and I do not want to speak it.” | Ms. Macmillan said Mr. Kourbaj’s work is a mirror — “It reflects realities,” she said — but he said he was a witness, not an advocate. “I’m an artist, not a politician,” Mr. Kourbaj said. “I do not speak the language of politicians, and I do not want to speak it.” |
| But he does speak personally, and passionately, of Syria, where relatives remain. | But he does speak personally, and passionately, of Syria, where relatives remain. |
| “When I speak with my brother, I say I’m ashamed I cannot do anything. He says, ‘You see it from a distance.’ He says, ‘Don’t worry about us. You are hearing news which is filtered — the juice of the juice, but not necessarily the right juice.’ The frustration for me is there is no clarity in the eyes of the world on where this is going.” | “When I speak with my brother, I say I’m ashamed I cannot do anything. He says, ‘You see it from a distance.’ He says, ‘Don’t worry about us. You are hearing news which is filtered — the juice of the juice, but not necessarily the right juice.’ The frustration for me is there is no clarity in the eyes of the world on where this is going.” |