OSAMA ESBER – Rituals of Passing

Visual Poetry of the Spirit

Debut Exhibition 

Opening Reception: 

Friday, August 19, 5 pm to 8 pm

It is with great pleasure I invite you to the debut exhibition of Syrian poet, photographer, short story writer and translator, Osama Esber. Osama initially arrived to the United States as a visiting scholar to the University of Chicago ten years ago.  

I first met him in 2013 when I was invited to curate the poetry for a sound and light installation at the Field Museum of Natural History by Italian artist Marco Nereo Rotelli.  

Marco had asked me to assemble an international team of poets to help bring to life his vision of illuminating the Field Museum with light projections of art and visual poetry with a soundtrack of music and poetry in the languages of the world. He gave us each a canto by Dante Alighieri as a springboard to the poems we would all write. So I ran with his concept and invited some of the finest poets in the world. Superstars such as Giuseppe Conte, Ana Castillo, Reginald Gibbons, Ed Roberson, Elise Paschen, Parneshia Jones and Osama Esber to name a few. The poets read their works in English and in the their native language. From Italian to Spanish, French, Turkish, Greek, Arabic and Hebrew, we covered a spectrum of languages and cultures.  

Osama's biography reads like any scholar. He has translated works into Arabic by Henry Miller, Toni Morrison, Bertrand Russell, Seamus Heaney, Elizabeth Gilbert, Raymond Carver, Michael Ondaatje and Noam Chomsky, to name a few. In fact, Osama translated one of my favorite books, Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient, before the book became famous and made into the Oscar winning film. He has written five volumes of poetry and edited numerous books.  

Osama and I lost touch for many years after, but we followed each other on Instagram (should I even admit this in writing?) and I would "like" his photographs from time to time. And then I realized, many of his images were mesmerizing. There was a simplicity and power that made me think of them for days and weeks after. They weren't 'hype.' They weren't the product of an artist trying to impress anyone. Or do something wild and crazy with shock factor. They were just the meanderings of a man on a beach meditating on life. 

You see, Osama and his family decided to leave their country because of the war many years ago. His wife, Maha, was a television news journalist in Syria before the war; his uncle, Adonis,the most famous and influential poet of the Arab world, was nominated numerous times for the Nobel Prize in literature. They have chosen to not return to their country of birth. Yet they have not only survived but flourished in the worlds of their own making.  

What Osama and his family have seen often manifests in his poetry. His poem, In The Land of Revelation written for DIVINA NATURA at the Field Museum was about the ravages of war he experienced. Writing about things may help ease the pain, the brutality of war, of loss, but also brings a sobering element to one's life. War does that to people. 

Since Pearl Harbor, we in America, have not experienced buildings being bombed next door. We have not seen dead bodies piling up or heard the sound of missiles overhead. I feel very fortunate to live in America. This is where Osama and his family began to heal from the traumas of war. Of loss. Of country. Of culture. Of home.  

But the other side of his story is a serene and tranquil one. The side he chooses to manifest in his life.

"Photography has helped move away from trying to rationalize things logically. The photographs have saved me from being trapped under the influence of great literary giants.

It helped me see poetry in a different way."