Written in stones

Man at work

The Syrian migrant and sculptor Nizar Ali Badr is a bit of a mystery

and one which I'm not having much luck solving.

No one seems to know exactly where he came from nor indeed his

present whereabouts.  His last known address was 

Lattaquie in Syria.

The only discernible fact seems to be that he reflects his life and

circumstances through his work and that his story is told with

very plain, ordinary old stones like you'd pick up on the beach.

I'm not even sure if this is really his true identity as the more I

delve the more the name Jabal Safoon crops up as well.  Are they

one and the same person?  I really don't know.

But what really is apparent is that the stones speak to him and

then he, in turn, speaks to us through them.  And its quite a

tale - peope, love, children, joy but also sadness, war,

death and exile.  Nizar Ali - his life in stones.