UNITED BUDDY BEARS SHOW - Sofia 2011

1973 – 75 Studied at the Institute of Fine Arts in Aleppo / Syria.
1980 – 82 Further studies at the “Hochschule der Künste“, Berlin.
A large number of national and international solo exhibitions.

The first time I saw the bears I instantly liked them and the idea behind them, uniting people from all over the world. Therefore my bear looks out into this world with large, friendly eyes.
My home country, the Arabic Republic of Syria, is a country full of hospitable people. In our country, a large number of ethnic groups with a very large number of different ancient religions live together in harmony.
The traces of these diverse ancient cultures are documented in Syria in many ways by the cultural vehicles scripture and image. They are also reflected everywhere in the country's architecture.
The back of the bear shows a Bedouin woman as she would have been dressed in my youth, who formerly lived as a semi-Nomad. I have symbolically presented the history of the people determining Syria's fate by using various forms of script. You will find ancient scripts on the left and on the right of the bear's back – all of them saying Peace.
The front of the bear symbolises modern Syria. A lot of ancient symbols and signs have been incorporated in order to show the links between history and the present which can be found all over Syria.
Sabhia Karden