growing up in a multicultural ambiance, between the middle east and Europe, visiting the Louvre with the age of 6 looking up to Hammurabi's Code impressed by this high black stone and the other artefacts in the hall, from a child's eye view's amazement filled with pride to my father's words ''those are our forefathers''..
In school Hammurabi was mentioned as the founder of schools but that was maybe the only time he was mentioned.. the Gilgamesh Epos also appeared in a school book page, the first poetry in history.. forgotten and neglected this treasure was..
I rediscovered this heritage in later years during my study of Architecture, finally the Mesopotamian where given some credit, their Architectural masterpieces most of it now in ruins, a hint to the grand civilization it once was.
then came our family friend Dr. Helga, an Archaeologist from Austria working on excavations on the site of Borsipa south of Babylon, listening to her stories of the Ancient world Sumerians Babylonians and Assyrian and their influence on all the region and our modern times, absorbing all this information new to me, opening a door to an unstoppable interest, were the seeds already planted but not watered:
the rich world of symbolism, diving into books, documentaries, discussions, listening attentively then sketching and re-sketching... long procedures.. notebooks, tracing paper sheets all witnessing the eager hours of work..
finally implementing the essence of what I learned into my work.. a porcelain vase, cup or a simple tile, starting as a passionate modest hobby that soon turned into a main occupation with even more passion, turning it into a mission to this day,
digging deep in history artefacts, highlighting symbols and icons and their mystic, re-presenting them in a modern take, strengthening the ''recognition factor'' to a long forgotten civilization that is in fact the origin of it all..
the cradle of civilizations and the first of numerous aspects we still are unaware of most of them today, a small contribution with a lot of responsibility making it my mission..
unseen work, yet a joy of new discoveries at the same time.. its the passion, that turned my roots into wings..
Rima Al-Juburi