ABOUT THAER MAAROUF

Thaer Maarouf is a Syrian visual artist based in Vienna, Austria. Working across painting, mixed media, installation and conceptual art, he explores identity, displacement, memory and the structures of power that shape everyday life.

Born in Shahba, Syria, in 1972, Maarouf studied at the Lebanese University in Beirut, completing a Diploma of Higher Studies in Fine Arts in 2001 and a master’s degree in 2010. His documented exhibition history begins in Beirut in 1999 and extends across Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

His practice moves between expressive figures and the charged symbolism of ordinary objects. Identification documents, damaged banknotes, shoes and furniture become materials through which he examines belonging, political authority and the tension between individual experience and collective systems.

In Dirty Messages, Maarouf sent shoes worn by refugees, together with personal letters, across international borders. The project contrasts the movement of objects with the restrictions placed on people; correspondence and returned parcels form part of the work. His installations Missing Identity and Veto likewise question the authority of documents and political institutions.

Recent presentations include Moving Things at Forum Wissen, Göttingen (2022–2023), Lights Through the Wounds at Foundry, Dubai (2023), PARALLEL Vienna with Barvinskyi Art Gallery (2024), Women in War – Palestine at CAP Gallery, Kuwait (2024), and Ziggurat in Vienna (2025).

His work is documented in the Farhat Art Museum collection. The artist also records the acquisition of The Immigrant Mirror by the Toleranzbethaus Museum.

Through continued experimentation with images, materials and meaning, Maarouf invites viewers to reconsider how they see others and themselves.