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Wassem Syed

Wassem Syed, a Pakistan-born artist who lives in Antigua, Guatemala. He is inspired and influenced by the poetry of Manuel Jose Arce “Un Craneo en La Sombra”.

"The presence of women in Latin American society (machista) where women are almost invisible, hidden but rooted in all spheres of society. They have a hidden strength (their eye as a symbol) that allows them to connect in many ways. Their Maya dressing is a symbol like a volcano that brings hidden forces, and their hair is like a fumarole of the volcano." - Artist statement

**A Skull in the Shadow**
Manuel José Arce

Where to put the head?
They told me:
—feet on the ground,
wings in the wind
and hands up!
And the head?
Theories have been woven, hypotheses fabricated:
—the head under the hat
on top of the shoulders;
at the end of the neck;
behind the mecapal;
under the guillotine knife;
at the encounter with a gunshot;
amidst laurels;
under the psychoanalyst’s magnifying glass.
but never in your hands,
never in your lap,
never on the pillow, next to yours!
And if it is not so
how to justify it?
it’s no longer enough to just say:
thanks to it industries exist
of combs, painkillers, glasses,
books and barbershops,
dentists, oculists, and rhinologists
so many people living off this round and complicated fruit!
But at the end of the day
I am only here asking one thing:
if it is not in your hands, if it is not in your lap,
if it is not on your pillow, next to yours
where to put, then, the head?