From Darayya to Idlib: 'Syria's Banksy' draws murals of hope

Abu Malek al-Shami, 26, is a Syrian street artist based in Idlib. He came to prominence following a 2015 mural Hope, which he drew on a bombed-out house in the town of Darayya, then held by rebel groups (MEE/Ali Haj Suleiman)

Shami replicating his famous painting in Kafr Nabl, a town in Syria's northwestern Idlib province earlier this month. When Shami first painted Hope in the Damascus suburb of Darayya, the town was under its fourth year of siege. In the summer of 2016, pro-Syrian government forces ousted its residents - civilians and rebels - and regained control. Like everyone else, Shami was bussed to opposition-held north Syria (MEE/Ali Haj Suleiman)

Painted without signature or attribution, Shami's mysterious profile has earned him comparisons with Banksy. Hope is one of 30 other murals he has painted anonymously since 2014 (MEE/Ali Haj Suleiman)

Shami told Middle East Eye that he has dedicated his latest version of Hope to Raed Fares, a Syrian opposition activist and journalist who was shot dead in his hometown Kafr Nabl by unknown assassins in November 2018. "I chose Kafr Nabl to redraw this mural for the sake of the martyr Raed Fares, who once showed it at a conference in Europe to convey my message to the world about Bashar al-Assad and Russia's crimes against the Syrian people." (MEE/Ali Haj Suleiman)

"The Hope mural represents a desire to live and get out of the hell of the siege. It is a message to end the war in Syria and to continue our lives as human beings," Shami told MEE (MEE/Ali Haj Suleiman)

A recent mural drawn by Shami shows a woman carrying an olive tree and leaving Idlib, fleeing Russian and Syrian government bombardment of the province. According to the UN, around 350,000 Syrians, mostly women and children, have been displaced by a renewed Russian-backed offensive in Idlib since early December, and have sought shelter in border areas near Turkey. Around 400,00 others had previously fled towards the Turkish border in a previous assault that began in April (MEE/Ali Haj Suleiman)

Save Idlib is another mural drawn by Shami in Kafr Nabl. It depicts an olive tree, a displaced family, and the pro-Syrian government air strikes. Idlib is home to nearly three million people, the majority displaced from elsewhere, who are trapped in the province (MEE/Ali Haj Suleiman)

"I started painting in 2014 in Darayya. My friend Majd Moadamani encouraged me to paint. We painted murals together until he was killed in an air strike in 2016," Shami told MEE (MEE/Ali Haj Suleiman)

Shami, who was forced to drop out of school in 2011 because of the war, has recently earned a fine arts diploma, and is hoping to pursue a career as an artist “to deliver the Syrian people’s voice to the world” (MEE/Ali Haj Suleiman)