Syrian visual artist Aya Kharboutli is the ICORN resident in Asker
Aya Kharboutli is a multidisciplinary visual artist from Syria who embarked on her artistic career at the time of the 2011 Syrian uprising. Kharboutli’s work has political, social, and human rights focus, including the human condition during times of conflict and crisis, minority rights, and women’s and LGBTQI+ issues. On 4 December 2024, Kharboutli arrived in Norway and began her ICORN residency in Asker where she continues her work.
As early as 2014, Kharboutli, as a young woman, was subjected to harassment, maltreatment, and social exclusion for pursuing her artistic ambitions and enrolling at Damascus University’s Faculty of Fine Arts.
Due to threats to her safety in Syria from several religious and conservative groups, as well as the Assad regime, Kharboutli fled to Turkey in 2016 where she sought to re-establish her artistic career. She was forced to abandon her degree when she was in her third year of undergraduate studies.
Between 2019 and 2021, Kharboutli worked as a trainer designer in the ‘silkscreen’ printing technique. Between 2020 and 2021, her illustrations appeared on the Syrian opposition website Enab Baladi, where she worked as a freelance graphic designer.
Since June 2022, Kharboutli has been working remotely as a visual artist and video editor for the Raseef22 website. Simultaneously, she has also been working with the Rozana.FM website as an illustrator and graphic designer. In 2023, her illustrations appeared alongside anti-Assad regime articles on the Syria Untold website.
Alongside her artistic activities, Kharboutli was engaged in humanitarian activities through several civil society organisations in 2017 and 2018.
In Turkey, Kharboutli continued to face threats and harassment of varied nature while working as an artist. She continues her artist work from Asker.
Asker ICORN City of Refuge
Asker became a member of ICORN in 2018 after a unanimous vote by the Asker City Council. Its ICORN residency is facilitated through Asker Public Library, which provides office space for the resident writer, artist, or journalist.
In 2020, Asker welcomed its first ICORN resident, Kurdish Iranian journalist, translator, and writer Xebat Rasouli. In December 2024, the city welcomed its second ICORN resident- Syrian visual artist Aya Kharboutli.
