On display: Kurdish man showcases God's gift of art in diaspora

By A.C. Robinson

Born in Hasakah, Syria in 1974, Janso Isso dreamed of becoming an artist since he was just seven-years-old and told Rudaw it was a gift from God which allowed him to succeed. He moved to Lebanon as a self-taught artist to pursue and realize his dream at the age of 24.

Through his art, Isso wants to share with the world the plight of the Kurdish people, many of whom have suffered through years of persecution, discrimination, and statelessness, yet have endured their hardships with strength and resilience.

Isso told Rudaw that most of his inspiration comes from famous Kurdish political figures, poets, artists, musicians, writers, and filmmakers. He’s painted many of these popular Kurdish icons with the hopes to show their faces, which are painted in bright and intense colors, so that people will ask who they are. In this way, he can explain how each of them has contributed something special to the Kurdish people.

Some of the Kurds who have inspired Isso was his good friend, a poet from Lebanon who passed away after Isso moved to Canada Haseeb Mahla, a famous Kurdish folk singer Milhemed Shekho, Kurdish musician Esker Ciziri, Shaekh Saeed Piran a Kurdish nationalist who led a rebellion in Turkey in the 1920’s and Kurdish artist Omar “Malva” Hamdi.