Farah Alimi (b. 1989, Damascus) is a Paris-based artist whose work is a dynamic and complex hymn to her homeland and a joyful celebration of Levantine culture. After leaving Syria as a young girl, Alimi lived in the United States before settling in France in 2018. She began painting in 2020, using her art as a portal into a still-vibrant Syria, at once remembered and reinterpreted.
Working primarily in heavy-body acrylics, Alimi draws from childhood recollections, oral histories, and her family’s extensive archive of historic photographs to reconnect with her ancestors and her beloved Damascus. Her paintings are expressions of quiet persistence and cultural perseverance, reimagining the spaces between exile and belonging, forging a new identity that encompasses her lifelong desire to physically, and visually, embrace the wellspring of her artistic inspiration.
After nearly twenty years away, Alimi returned to Damascus in April 2025—a journey that profoundly shifted her perspective, her creative vision, and the emotional terrain of her work. The experience affirmed her connection to the homeland that she has longed for in her paintings, a country rediscovered in both life and art.
In collaboration with Atelier 505, we are proud to present:
Before & After Damascus
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I never truly understood the meaning of before and after until I began the quiet journey through my emotions—through memory, art, and the science of feeling.
I left Syria at ten.
It wasn’t my choice.
I loved my life—my city, my cousins, the comfort of a big, loud, loving family.
For years, I was homesick. Then I adapted. I tucked Syria away– quietly, just to survive in a world where being Arab meant being invisible or afraid.
For decades, I couldn’t return. So I created Damascus on paper, and sometimes on old destroyed photos—its colors, its ache, its echo.
I began painting to feel closer, not realizing I was painting my way home. My ancestors whispered through every layer.
For decades, I couldn’t return. So I created Damascus on paper, and sometimes on old destroyed photos—its colors, its ache, its echo. Recently, after a great loss, I went back. Damascus welcomed me like it never left.
Same air. Same voices. Same soul. I stepped into my childhood and found the missing piece.
Home was never lost. It was waiting—for me to return. For me to remember.
The before shaped me. The after saved me.
These pieces carry my family
and the lands around that hold Syria close.
A promise to return,
to remember,
to honor them—
through my art,
and through my life I continue to build.In loving memory of Ibtihaj Al-Molki—
Forty of the works in this show were produced prior to Alimi’s return to Syria, while the last 13 were created upon her return. While in Damascus at the house of her grandfather, whom she refers to as Jiddo in her works, she unearthed hundreds of lost family archives. A selection of the photos that Alimi used as inspiration for this show are below.
My beloved Syrian people, the very heart of poetry, art, and unwavering strength —
You are among the most noble and beautiful souls. When you love, you love deeply. When you are loved, you respond with boundless gratitude.
From the depths of my heart, I wish you strength, health, and joy from every corner of the world.
You deserve it now, you deserved it in the past, and you will always deserve it.
My heart remains forever bound and connected to yours.
Hold on.
The light is near.
—يا شعبي السوري الحبيب، يا قلب الشعر والفن والقوة التي لا تلين
.أنتم من أنبل وأجمل الأرواح. عندما تحبّون، تحبّون بعمق. وعندما تُحبّون، تردّون بعرفان لا حدود له
.من أعماق قلبي، أتمنّى لكم القوة، والصحة، والفرح من كلّ زاوية في هذا العالم
.أنتم تستحقّون ذلك الآن، وكنتم تستحقّونه في الماضي، وستستحقّونه دائمًا
.قلبي سيبقى دائمًا موصولًا بقلوبكم
.تمسّكوا، فالنور قريب