Khaled Dawwa

In 2025, in the context of Eighty Years of Freedom, Museum Beelden aan Zee will be presenting the installation Voici mon cœur ! (Here is my Heart), 2018-22 by the exiled Syrian artist Khaled Dawwa (1985). This six-meter long, contemporary war memorial from the Mucem’s collection has the form of a ruined exterior wall in a war-torn Damascus. Khaled Dawwa made the work from unfired clay, which gives it a more fragile appearance.

The presentation of Voici mon cœur ! echoes the broader theme of the year of remembrance, in which local stories and various perspectives play a central role. Like traditional war memorials, Voici mon cœur also fulfils an educational function, serving as a means to create awareness and to stimulate dialogue about the impact of war and the importance of freedom. In this context Dawwa’s monument builds a bridge between past and present. While we reflect on the liberation of the Netherlands eighty years ago, his work offers a contemporary perspective of freedom and the lack of it. It reminds us that the struggle for freedom and human dignity does not end on a historical date, but is an ongoing process. The exhibition will be accompanied by a documentary about the artist.

Curator: Dick van Broekhuizen.