The Birds of Syria

The Birds of Syria
Copyright 2015 Hirschten
Oil on Canvas 18" x 36"
Prints available on Fine Art America

War is always disruptive to families.  This painting is about how many Syrians have had their home, their nest, disrupted by the Syrian Civil War.  Like a flock of birds that have been startled, the people of Syria have scattered in all directions.  If a nest was thrown up in the air, the twigs of it would also scatter.  Yet here a mother holds a new delicate nest.  It contains the egg of future generations. She is carrying it until she can find a safe place that will be her new home.

This painting is also inspired by my friend, Dima Kroma, who is from Syria.  She is creating paintings of her homeland.  One of her recent paintings is of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus with birds flying up around it into the air.  It is a beautiful scene.

Here is a photo of her painting currently on display at the Indianapolis Art Center:

Umayyad Mosque by Dima Kroma

When my friend Walter saw my "Birds of Syria" painting it he was moved to write a poem about it:

Birds of Syria 

by  Walter Biskupski

Fly away now,

Your precious lives are on the wing.

Let the currents guide you

Through the troubled air,

And bring you to shelter

Until the storms subside.

Allow those who love you to provide,

To lessen your fear; to ease your pain,

And like the winged migration through the year,

you may yet return home again.


It is my hope that the "Birds of Syria" painting will bring comfort to all Syrians who are suffering and that it raises awareness of the human rights violations that have been committed.  I am so glad that Dima, her family and others have escaped to my country, the United States, yet I can only imagine the pain of not being able to return home.

May peace come again to Syria.  May love fill your hearts.

Here are some in progress photos of this painting: