Damascus Rose, 2016-ongoing
Damask Roses grown from grafted rose cuttings from Damascus, Syria Project realised with the support of Italian Council (2022)
Damascus Rose is a long-term project initiated by the artist that attempts to recultivate the Dam- ask rose, a much-loved and once ubiquitous rose species found in Syria. Due to the continuing Syrian civil war, many of the Damask rose fields in the country have been abandoned. In 2016, the artist read that their production decreased by 70 percent, and she “wanted to approach the subject in [her] own way, starting with the soil. What is the process of bringing something from Damascus to another country and trying to cultivate it?” Thus began an arduous journey in which the artist “smuggled” more than a hundred Damask roses out of Syria and grafted them onto other roses since they traveled as branches without roots. She then planted them in flower beds, and Bucak’s Damask roses have been shown in exhibition spaces worldwide in various configurations and quantities. Nurtured by the staff of each exhibiting institution, some have grown better than others. A few of these Damask roses have been planted inside the Kunsthaus Dresden, where they will hopefully bloom and prosper. The Damascus Rose project builds upon central ideas present throughout the artist’s practice, those of borders, trauma, the displacement of people, and memory.
Photo by Anja Schneider
