Between Art and Community: Suwayda’s Youth Choosing Life After the Bloody July

The repercussions of the armed attack that swept through Suwayda Governorate on 14 July extended far beyond politics, economics, and security, reaching deep into the social fabric of the city itself. Alongside loss, displacement, siege, and deteriorating living conditions, these events left behind profound psychological wounds and shockwaves that became especially visible among young people and adolescents.

With education disrupted and both physical and digital public spaces shrinking, it seemed likely that psychological recovery for young people would take a long time. Yet reality exceeded these expectations. Youth moved toward gathering and “coming together for a purpose,” transforming their meetings into spaces of human and artistic production, where they exchanged experiences and translated the weight of collective trauma into creative forms.

The engagement of young men and women in artistic practices became an active tool for resilience and recovery, helping them break the isolation imposed by conflict and its consequences. Through drawing, music, theatre, sculpture, and other forms of expression, they found ways to restore balance and release accumulated grief. Art, especially in its collective form, also helped them reorganize the chaos surrounding them. Instead of surrendering to stillness and despair, pain itself became a creative and productive act that restored a sense of agency and possibility. As workshops and gatherings continued, an inspiring psychological resilience began to emerge, making them better able to face daily hardship and uncertainty.

Theatre as a Space for Healing and Talent
This deep psychological transformation found a physical space through initiatives inspired by Suwayda’s long artistic identity. Among them emerged Kartoon Forum, a creative hub. Firas Hatem, founder and director of Kartoon Theatre for Arts, explains:
“When the sound of weapons faded in the governorate, we were overcome by a real fear of losing our most essential weapon and our authentic identity: art. Art is a stance. Through it, young people expressed their disappointments, their fractures, and their strong desire to rise again.”

Today, the theatre is no longer merely a meeting place; it has become a shared space where artists connect and exchange experiences. It embraces different forms of performing arts, including singing, acting, dance performances, clowning, and more. The forum succeeded in transforming the fragility experienced by youth into psychological resilience rooted in togetherness and artistic expression.

Hatem adds:
“Our interactive experience proved that art heals the wounds of the past and gives us the ability to shape our present so we can move toward the future. Art was almost the only vessel capable of helping the local community rise again after everything that happened.”

Despite its modest physical size, Kartoon Theatre offered one of the groups most affected by violence a free space for creativity and action. Talented participants who had lost family members, friends, and homes found in collective work an alternative support network to isolation and withdrawal.

Its activities, shaped around the rhythm and energy of youth, nurtured a kind of resilience that broke through stagnation. Through artistic choices reflecting their interests and aspirations, participants gradually reoriented their sense of identity. This became the uniqueness of the experience: young people joined consciously to participate, yet healed unconsciously. While focusing on the quality of a theatrical performance or movement exercise, their wounds quietly began healing in the background.

Emotional Release Through Art
“Recovery happens faster when we come together. Conversations and transforming pain into visible artistic work made us more capable of accepting grief. Throughout history, art has proven to be the only tool that never surrenders.”

These words were used by Nisreen Al-Hussein, one of the facilitators of an art-based emotional recovery workshop within the initiative “For Your Eyes, My Country”, launched to help heal the wounds left by July in the lives of Suwayda’s women.

The initiative did not make artistic skill a requirement. Instead, it focused on creating a safe environment where participants could share painful experiences and transform them from internal burdens into visible artistic works.
Al-Hussein explains:
“We worked with the idea that we gather first to express what is inside us; skill comes later. Drawing, clay, and handmade crafts helped young women and women stand again and begin healing.”

This approach transformed the space into a collective clinic where women treated the wounds of July through colours, clay, and handcrafts, rewriting their personal stories from the perspective of strength rather than victimhood.

The activities also encouraged participants to enter states of creative flow, helping them process life changes and imagine brighter futures. Art additionally played a central role in documenting the events and transforming trauma into experience and renewal.
One participant shared:
“When I held the brush and pencils, I felt that I had regained control over my life. I felt capable again, and I released all the poison inside me.”

Tala Choir… Singing in the Face of Death
After the bloody July, Suwayda witnessed a surge in newly formed choirs and singing groups. Many began with folkloric and memorial themes dedicated to the governorate’s victims. Over time, supported by local communities and social media, these groups evolved and diversified.

Among the earliest to emerge was Tala Choir, whose name carries a double memory of loss, honouring Tala Hossam Al-Shoufi and Tala Rabee Al-Khatib, the child who witnessed the killing of her family.

Diana Khader, who co-founded the choir with Mohammad Sammour, recalls its beginnings:
“The group began with children and youth from displacement centres in Salkhad city to provide support and help them overcome trauma. Gradually, it expanded as adolescents from the same age group joined after first attending as listeners because they found music to be a language that resembled them.”

Young people moved toward singing and learning instruments, particularly traditional Eastern instruments, building upon previous knowledge and quickly reclaiming their artistic tools. At this stage, technical perfection was not the ultimate goal. Rather, it was the emotional state music created — bringing joy and reopening spaces of light. Emerging musical groups succeeded in achieving something that conventional discourse and media often could not: breaking silence and fear.

Music, through its harmony and softness, created a sense of psychological peace for performers and listeners alike. Voices became instruments of release and opened pathways toward collective healing.

Despite the surrounding hardship, youth continued organizing artistic initiatives and creative activities, reaffirming their commitment to hope and life.
Diana Khader concludes:
“The message our team carries is that we exist, and that our voice and art are stronger than killing, blood, and war. Although we emerged from beneath the ashes, we proved to the world that we are resilient and capable of continuing.”