Hussein Shamia: Faces of Where I am From

The exhibition Faces of Where I Am From presents a selection of recent and newly produced works by Palestinian, Brussels-based artist Hussein Shamia.

Combining large-scale paintings with small drawings and watercolours, Shamia invites viewers to engage with questions that remain ever-present in his experience of displacement: the longing for his motherland, the act of remembering, and the desire to remain connected to those who have stayed under occupation, by choice or by force.

Shamia reflects on how the violence of occupation and siege transforms familiar faces — those of family members and people from the neighbourhood — into unrecognisable ones. Individual features and personal traits gradually disappear beneath a veil of suffering, despair, and pain. Reduced to robotic entities forced to follow the system in order to survive, people somehow become indistinguishable from one another, yet each carries a different story.

Faces and bodies become mirrors of a page of history that remains painfully open, yet is often forgotten amid the noise of daily life. Faces of Where I Am From becomes a space for remembrance and acknowledgment, bringing these faces and the stories they carry back into focus.

Agenda
4/12 (open until 22:00)
17:30 Exhibition opening + welcome drink
18:15 Artist talk: Hussein Shamia in conversation with moderator Özge Akarsu. Limited capacity – please arrive on time! (free)

10/12
16:30 Guided tour with artist Hussein Shamia (free)
The tour will be in Arabic, with interpretation into English.

18/12 (open until 22:00)
Closing night: come celebrate the exhibition with us.

Want to know more about the artist?
Hussein Shamia began his artistic journey in 2010, developing a practice rooted in contemporary expressionism. Through painting and sculpture, his work explores themes of humanity, memory, migration, identity, and psychological and social transformation. His distinctive visual language draws on the symbolism of faces and figures to convey human experiences and emotions rather than directly document reality. Through emotionally charged compositions, he examines belonging, loss, and nostalgia, creating a visual dialogue between personal and collective memory.

@husseinshamia

Want to know more about Özge Akarsu (moderator of the artist talk)?
Özge Akarsu is a Turkish-Belgian filmmaker and researcher based in Brussels. She is currently pursuing a PhD in the arts at RITCS. With a background in law and philosophy, her work explores themes such as state power, political oppression, identity and human rights.

Her animated documentary NOMOS, produced with the support of VAF, the Netherlands Film Fund and the Bulgarian National Film Center, was selected for Cinéma de Demain at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, where it received a jury prize.

Her film Being with the Other was screened at M HKA and subsequently acquired by the City of Antwerp Collection. In 2024, she was awarded a residency at Saari Residence in Finland, with the support of the Kone Foundation.