Sunday, February 26, 2012

Algerian artist paints his generation's despair...

The way young Algerian artist Aghiles Issiakhem sees it, the future for many of his 20-something generation is as bleak as his charcoal portraits of them.

"For a young person here, there's nothing -- you can escape abroad or flee into drugs and alcohol," says the 22-year-old.

The self-taught artist shows off a series of his portraits of friends, members of a disaffected generation who walk the streets of Algiers without training, degrees, jobs or much hope for the future.

The artist -- the great-nephew of one of the fathers of modern Algerian painting, the late Mohammed Issiakhem -- recalls the protests and food riots of a year ago, when the Arab Spring kicked off across the region. Full story...

Don't miss:
  1. Algerian riots resume over food prices...
  2. ‘Nothing has changed in Egypt’
  3. Arab Spring inevitably turns into Arab Winter...
  4. Tunisian President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali and his family's 'Mafia rule'
  5. To the people of the Midddle East: copy Switzerland, not the US...

No comments:

Post a Comment