IMA TRIO ELEPHANTS

Institut du Monde Arabe (IMA), Paris, France

Material

Polished Stainless Steel

As part of the 25 years of Arab Creativity itinerant exhibition at IMA, Karam created this work focused on the core family unit one year after the Syrian war had broken out and families were being divided and displaced.
The elephant, with its strong sense of solidarity and community, was his motif of choice, and he filled his family trio with a myriad of forms to evoke their lifetimes of stories and memories. Observers are drawn into the works when they approach, seeing their own reflections within the elephant family.

Memories, often associated with the elephant, are a recurring theme in Karam’s work, and are particularly charged with meaning in the context of war, when so much else is lost.