An art curator organized an exhibition of drawings by two young Syrian brothers, Nasser and Mohammed Darwish, who were selling their drawings on the streets of Beirut after fleeing the Syrian civil war. The exhibition was held in September 2016 at Made in.. Art Gallery in Venice, Italy to help support the family and raise awareness about refugees of war. It featured the brothers' drawings and paintings, which were for sale, and was filmed for a documentary. The aim of the project was to help war victims, support organizations helping refugees, and teach children about helping others through art.

1. IDraw to Live
THE STORY
On 17 May 2016, AJ+ Arabia published a video on its Facebook page about a touching
humanitarian story of two young Syrian children drawing postcards, hanging them on a street
corner in downtown Beirut and selling them to the public. In an attempt to salvage what is left of
their childhood that has been taken away by the savage civil Syrian war, the children attracted
smiles of passersby including their own father, who is unable to provide good living conditions for
the boys especially after their mother’s death in Syria and escape which resulted in them residing
in a moving van in the middle of Beirut. However, that didn’t stop their father from providing them
with the best education possible, and Enas Elkorashy realized it was time for her to speak up and
make a positive contribution to those children’s lives.
Enas Elkorashy continued her determined search with the help of her Beiruti friends to identify their
father Abdul Nasser Darawish, whom she was able to reach through the help of filmmaker Farrah
ALHahshem and journalist AbdulRahman Orabi.
As an Art Curator, Enas Elkorashy holds no political power but only an intimate space and an
escape from the ugly war to a more humble setting for people to witness artistic talents hidden
underneath the chaos of political madness we are undertaking as we speak.
Made in.. Art Gallery caters to artists and strives to serve humanity at its best. The children’s
father was afraid and confused at first but then welcomed our help in hosting an official exhibition to
support and promote his children’s art work as our way to demonstrate support to artists from
refugees.
ABOUT THE CHILDREN
Nasser Darwish is 11 years old; born in Aleppo on 10 October 2003.
Mohammed Darwish is 9 years old; born in Aleppo on 1 June 2006.
Nasser and Mohammed are from Aleppo, Syria. Their mother Manal Sadik was killed in the war
and they escaped to Beirut five years ago. The brothers stay on the sidewalk somewhere on
Beirut’s streets and hang their drawings between two trees for sale for 6 dollars.

2. THE PROJECT
On 10 September 2016, Curator and gallery owner Enas Elkorashy will organize and
curate an exhibition for Nasser and Mohammed at Made in.. Art Gallery in Venice, Italy.
Enas Elkorashy will collaborate with Italian artist Patrizia Polese for the installation and use
the drawings and paintings of the children. All drawings will be available for sale to help this
family.
Lebanese filmmaker Farrah Alhashem as mentioned before will film a small documentary
about the IDraw to Live project of Enas Elkorashy meeting the children in Beirut in August
and the preparation and showing of the exhibition in Venice.
The project is open to any collaboration for any person or organization wanting to help and
take part of it. We are seeking to collaborate as well with any organization sending help to
the refugees camps and trying to help them to get donations to help more families.
THE AIM
-To help a family who is a victim of the war.
-Get attention from Italians and Europeans to the war victims to GET HELP for them.
-Help organizations that are collecting donations for the refugees.
-Give the chance to persons who want to be part of helping refugees.
-Collaborating with families, schools, etc. to be part of the projects seeking to teach the
children to help other children somewhere else in the world.
IDraw to help
The project is seeking to teach the Italian children and give them the chance to help other
children somewhere else in the world. The children can donate their drawings and
paintings to be put for sale to help the refugees’ children. The donated drawings and
painting will be exhibited during the exhibition of the refugees’ children in September.
The project will be always in collaboration with families and schools.
For info:
idraw.project@gmail.com
www.facebook.com/IDrawproject
Made in.. Art Gallery
www.madein-artgallery.com
www.facebook.com/madein.artgallery/
Farrah Alhashim Filmmaker
http://www.violetskyefilms.com
Patrizia Polese Artist
www.patriziapolese.com/

3. The Jungle (the installation)
We are living in a jungle, everything is out of order, unpredictable and chaotic, this is the
world we are living in at the moment but the problem with “our jungle” is the media, the
amount of information we are drowning in and the little wisdom we have in our lives. We
are sitting in museums surrounded by paintings by Monet and Picasso but we are glued to
our iPhones separated by a glassy screen from our reality. We have lost touch with
authenticity.
At the inauguration of IDraw, Made in.. Art Gallery will dangle an installation from the ceiling
like a curtain, made of threads, delicate threads, a lot of them. And the point here is to
create a passage, an emotional and physical passage, to a different time and space.
The installation’s multiple threads and cords dangling from the ceiling at the main
entrance of the gallery is a representation of a new beginning, a new space and an artistic
visual of our DNA, that is depicted through the minimal, delicate parts of that installation.
We are all part of this DNA chain just like a social circle.
There could be geographical differences between myself and that young boy who is living
in Syria, or that little girl sitting under a collapsed house in Lebanon. The human condition
see no fault and no difference; we are all going through life the same way but in different
stages. Some are already going through death, others are still grieving and some are still
stuck at stage one; anger.
We continue to pursue happiness, wherever we are whether by inviting people to feel
through an art exhibition or buying a 5 euro postcard from a young Syrian boy on a street
in Beirut.
Patrizia Polese
July, 2016