During his residency at Cork Printmakers, Diaa worked on creating an imaginary landscape of oriental architecture, a deconstructive form which is connected by a pattern of repitition to one word in Arabic "فيك " - Kayefa, translated to English as "How".
Diaa also facilitated two workshops with Direct Provision Clonakilty Lodge Afterschool Group on calligraphy.
Residency Dates: 2nd-31st August 2022
Diaa Lagan is a multidisciplinary artist originally from Aleppo, Syria. Through sculptural installations and intimate paintings, he explores the complexities and contradictions that he has experienced as a Middle Eastern immigrant to the Western world.
He views his work as an exploration of the fragile and fluid relationships that connect heritage and spoken folklore, and how these relationships are shaped and reshaped by contemporary social and political forces. His paintings and sculptures often directly reference Islamic art and architecture, using light and
shadow to explore geometric and organic forms.
In particular, he investigates the role of these forms within traditions of decorative writing that are specific to Arabic calligraphy. Many of his works investigate how a sense of belonging can be achieved while being a stranger, and how the self is continually formed and articulated while in a state of temporary permanence. Diaa’s practice serves as a meditation on identity and rebirth, amid the perplexity of transnationalism.
