Rezk Afia

Born in 1980 in Saudi Arabia and raised in Syria, Afia Rezk is a painter and creator of craft objects from recycled used materials. She also works in ceramics, engraving, screen printing, and installation, and uses organic elements and living materials. She studied Arabic literature at the University of Damascus, painting at the Al-Lujin Center, and ceramics at Tarek Abd Alhay’s studio. She teaches art to children and specializes in coordinating cultural events for them, particularly after the revolution.

She participated in exhibitions in Syria and Lebanon. She decided to flee the war with her entire family and arrived in France in 2018. She exhibited in Pontoise, Saint-Briac, Luleå in Sweden, and Böblingen, Germany. She has led visual arts workshops in Syria since 2005 in art centers for various age groups, and in France since 2019 in middle schools, high schools, leisure centers, and higher art schools. She set up numerous workshops in Syria using art and theater as interactive practices to help families in emergency situations, as well as children and women victims of the war.

Afia has participated in several artistic residencies, in Beirut, Lebanon; in France at Saint-Briac, École supérieure d’art Annecy, École des arts décoratifs de Paris, and École supérieure d’art de Clermont Métropole. She notably joined the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris through the “Hérodote” program. She will be in residency at Villa Ruffieux in Château Mercier, Switzerland, in January 2023. She is a member of the Agency of Artists in Exile.