Reclamation of Forbidden Colours
Born in Efrîn, raised partly in Aleppo and Beirut, and now living in Winnipeg, the Syrian-Kurdish artist carries with him a history shaped by displacement and transformation. “Winnipeg is one of my homes, but I have many homes. Efrîn, Aleppo, Beirut – sometimes I dream of all of them at the same time,” says Bîstyek.
When asked about the title of the exhibition, Bîstyek shares stories from his childhood that have stuck with him and formed his sense of self. “For Kurds, even our colours were forbidden, and in some places, they still are,” he says. Red, green, and yellow, the colours of the Kurdish flag, were policed, erased, and criminalized. Speaking Kurdish was forbidden. Declaring “I am Kurdish” could be dangerous.
Our existence itself was treated like something that should not be visible.
In this show, these colours return with force. The work is bold, unapologetic, and alive. “They are more than colours; they are symbols of survival. Rewriting the narrative wasn’t just an artistic decision, it was a necessity.”
Before he could speak English, art became Bîstyek’s way of communicating and entertaining himself. “Art lets me translate emotions and memories into something people can feel,” he says. Though rooted in his Kurdish identity and refugee experience, the subjects expand beyond biography, touching on universal themes of home, loss, hope, and resilience.
He paints quickly and instinctively. On an impulse, he quit his job at a coffee shop, went home, and found himself unable to stop painting. “A little door opened and giants came out,” he said. In the first three months, he made 60 paintings. He rolled them up, stacked them aside, and just kept going.
One of his earliest memories of art is from grade school, when he unknowingly drew the Kurdish flag, not understanding why the colours were considered problematic. “That was the beginning of my discovery of what it meant to be Kurdish. That even colours could be forbidden.”
Bîstyek’s journey into the art world was anything but smooth. After arriving in Winnipeg in 2017, he learned English, volunteered, and picked up jobs. Struggling to find a creative space, friend and supporter, Tim Borys, stepped in and graciously offered free studio space in the Exchange District. The 11,000 square foot space became a home for his first exhibitions.
That leap changed everything. His first show in 2020 drew lots of people and he sold half of his work. His next show in Toronto sold out in two weeks. His art travelled internationally. And with the income, he sponsored his brothers to come to Winnipeg, reuniting his family after 14 years apart. “Art brought my family home,” he says. “It’s not just colours on canvas. It’s life.”
Exhibiting at WAG-Qaumajuq is special for Bîstyek. “I asked myself, what does it mean to bring my people’s colours into an institution like this?” During his very first exhibition in Winnipeg, he saw others from Kurdish and Syrian communities walk in and understand instantly. “I realized I wasn’t only telling my own story. It was also theirs.”
With Forbidden Colours, he hopes visitors leave with deeper curiosity and empathy, “I want people to feel what was forbidden and to see that it survived.”
