Interview with David Henry Gerson

On his powerful documentary on Syrian Art Activists

“A case not just for art’s survival, but for art as a means of survival.” — NY Times

I met David Henry Gerson in Oslo earlier this year, we were both attending the Oslo Freedom Forum, a gathering for dissidents from around the world (I was live drawing it). Gerson’s new documentary, The Story Won’t Die, was screened at OFF, and while I did not get a chance to see it then, I went to a screening he held in Manhattan more recently. It’s a powerful film about artists in Syria, about the creative process and individuals’ response to conflict.

The documentary was fascinating to me, in part because I am friends with cartoon artists living in countries with limited freedom of expression and violence. How does one truthfully create when the world is exploding around you? What are the effects of violence and anger on the creative process? Does the artist use the turbulence to feed one’s work, ignore it, fight it, or leave? And if leaving is the only answer, how does one resume and find one’s voice as a refugee?

The film follows 9 artists of different disciplines, both performance and visual, and tells their stories of creativing in wartime…