In Conversation With : Anneka Lenssen Part 1

A series of in depth interviews with Arthur Debsi, writer and researcher at Dalloul Art Foundation where he discusses various subjects with professionals in the Arab world.

Anneka Lenssen – Associate professor of Art History at the University of California, Berkeley

Part 1. The book, Beautiful Agitation, Modern Painting and Politics in Syria, published in 2020, deals with the artistic creation in Syria during a time when it was intensely changing. In the first part of the conversation, the author Anneka Lenssen talks about a specific chapter entitled ‘Colonial Syria: Finding life within culture’, in which she traces back the historic-political and cultural environment in Syria right after it became under the French mandate in 1920. Lenssen discusses the notion of national belonging and explains how France established a cultural strategy in the country as part of the colonial process. At that time, Damascus turned into an important research center for Arab studies in the region. For example, in October 1922, the French Institute of Archeology and Islamic Art was founded by the French Foreign Ministry, and French archeologist and historian Eustache de Lorey (1875-1953) was in charge of many missions including the restoration of the western walls of the Great Mosque in Damascus between 1928 and 1930. These political initiatives aimed to revive the Arab and Islamic heritage in Syria to diminish the cultural influences under the Ottoman occupation.

Video recorded on Zoom by Arthur Debsi

Edited by Christine Labban