The Rosenfeld Gallery

Thamer Dawood Sudani will be showing recent mixed media paintings on canvas at Rosenfeld gallery from January 10 until January 31, 2010. This will be much more than an upbeat exhibition of beautifully conceived and deftly handled, personal images. This show will be a dramatically graphic demonstration of the transcendent power of the creative drive, the sustaining life force of art and the courage and determination of a man’s will to freedom.

Thamer Sudani, 43, is a Shiite Muslim; his wife, Montaha Majeed Sudani, 38, is a Sunni. They fled their home in Baghdad in 2005 after militias bombed businesses on the street where Thamer was a painter and graphic designer. Like many of his colleagues in the graphics and printing business, he was perceived as cooperating with Americans and targeted by the militias. He made the decision to leave after his mother was hospitalized by a neighborhood explosion.

Sudani, Montaha and their three young children fled to Jordan in a taxi, a six hour, harrowing trip. The Sudanis arrived in Jordan with the clothes on their backs and their modest life savings. In spite of Amman being crowded with nearly a million other Iraqi refugees, Thamer found a place to live, got design work and applied for refuge status. In Baghdad his paintings had been widely exhibited by both prestigious institutions and private galleries. His art became his ticket for admission to the United States in March, 2008.

In Jordan, Sudani worked on a wall mural project called “Peace Is in our Hands.” Half the mural was created by Iraqi artists living in Amman and half by Iraqis in the U.S. The project gave birth to a joint exhibition for Iraqi and American artists. Rosemary Lane, a retired art professor at the University of Delaware was instrumental in assembling an exhibit at the Delaware Art Museum and helped Sudani find lodging with a Chester County family. It was at that time that Thamer was put in touch with Aref A. Aref, a native Palestinian and a retired Dupont chemist. Aref has served as the family’s interpreter and main contact with American society.

While his family was still waiting in Amman for refugee status from the United Nations, Sudani was granted U.S. work and residency permits and a friend found him a small place to live in Wilmington. In 2009 the U.N.’s refugee agency in Jordan granted Montaha and the three children refugee status and their case was referred to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Migration and Refugee Services office in Washington. The church group contacted Catholic Charities in Wilmington and this group did much to expedite the speedy reunion of the Sudani family and have continued to be a major support in their difficult acclimation.

Even though the 14 month separation from his family was filled with constant anxiety and loneliness, the work Sudani painted during that most difficult separation is beautifully lyrical, upbeat and optimistic.

It is with great respect and pride that I present this show that is an exhibition of determination, creativity, love and courage. It transcends all religious, political and social considerations.

With special thanks to Joseph Ryan, Assistant Editor of the Catholic Charities paper, “The Dialogue,” and author of the article about Sudani,“From Fear to Hope.” Thanks to Aref Aref who has now become my trusted interpreter, and thanks to Rosemary Lane who first put me in touch with Thamer.