De people behind the museum #5. Shafiq Omar

What is their background? What does art mean to them? And what fascinates them? In this series you will meet the staff of the Van Abbemuseum. Fifth in the line-up is: Shafiq Omar. Since 2011, he has been organising the Newcomers Event, a day filled with guided tours, music, and creativity.

Just under thirty years ago, Afghanistan-born Shafiq Omar was a newcomer himself. He has now been working at the Van Abbemuseum for over twenty years, where he initiated the Newcomers Event in 2011. This event, filled with art and culture, brings together people who have left their home countries and now live in Eindhoven and the surrounding area. Shafiq: “Many of them have had a difficult journey. On this day at the Van Abbemuseum, I see them blossom like flowers.”

From poet to painter

“In 1998, under the first Taliban regime in Afghanistan, I came to the Netherlands. Here, I ended up in an asylum seekers’ centre in Helmond. In my home country, I was a poet; I wrote in Pashto and Dari. But in the Netherlands almost no one spoke those languages. I was caught between two cultures: in North Brabant I was an Afghan, while in Central Asia I was a Dutchman. Ultimately, I considered myself neither, but rather an ‘earthling’, a human being. And human beings have been on the run for as long as we can remember. I decided to leave my poetry behind and started painting.”

To the museum

"At the asylum seekers’ centre, I took a painting course and developed my skills as an artist. In my paintings, I can symbolically express poetry in a way that everyone can understand, regardless of language. Museums also interested me. However, the asylum seekers’ centre organised trips to amusement parks or the seaside. At the time, I couldn’t afford a museum ticket myself. Fortunately, someone told me about the Van Gogh Village in Nuenen, where back then admission was free. I loved it. Naturally, I was very happy when, after completing my integration course in 2003, I was able to start working as an intern at the Van Abbemuseum."

Newcomers event

"There, I was given the opportunity to initiate my own projects. One of them was Project Afghanistan, an initiative that builds bridges between the Van Abbemuseum and Afghan artists. After the Taliban took power in 2021, it helped evacuate hundreds of artists and their families from Afghanistan. In 2011, the project gave rise to the idea for the Newcomers Event. This programme offers people from a wide range of backgrounds the opportunity to become acquainted with art, while at the same time adding colour to the museum. Participants are often people with a refugee background who have experienced traumatic events. For some of them, it is the first time they visit a museum and the first time they see a Picasso painting. It is very special to be able to make that possible."

Programme

“For fifteen years now, the Newcomers Event has been a day when newcomers to Eindhoven and the surrounding area can enjoy art with their families free of charge. The programme always starts with a welcome speech from me. Then the tour guides take the participants and their language buddies on a tour of the exhibitions. After that, they have the opportunity to get creative themselves in a workshop. A highlight of the programme is the songs sung by the Van Abbe choir. The singers have included Arabic, Kurdish, Chinese and Ukrainian songs in their repertoire. When participants hear the languages and melodies from their home countries, it often evokes strong emotions, sometimes even moving them to tears.”

A special reunion

"A very special moment that has always stayed with me happened during a Newcomers Event about ten years ago. I had invited two asylum seekers’ centres, and about 120 participants attended that day. During the tour, I was standing in the middle of a museum gallery, surrounded by works of art, when suddenly there was a commotion. I saw two Syrian men, both residents of one of the centres, embrace each other exuberantly. They turned out to be childhood friends who had always been together from a young age until the war separated them. Before meeting at the Van Abbemuseum, each of them had thought the other had died. I am proud that an event can have such a profound impact."

Smile

“The Newcomers Event is very important to me. It’s a day when I can put a smile on the faces of mothers, fathers, and children. I call it a universe of fruits: it yields enormous returns—for the participants, but also for the museum. We have welcomed thousands of people from hundreds of nationalities. Looking back to when I arrived in the Netherlands myself in the 1990s, I would have loved to have an event like this: an opportunity to meet people, enjoy art, and make a fresh start.”

Shafiq's favourites

Favourite artwork 
"In Sandi Hilal’s installation, The Living Room, which I like to refer to as The Tea Room, visitors are not merely spectators, but become part of the work. While enjoying a cup of tea, they share stories about different, sometimes unfamiliar, cultures. Everything is allowed: talking, listening, exploring, meeting new people. A form of connection that is not easily forgotten."

Favourite Van Abbemuseum exhibition
"The exhibition Be(com)ing Dutch (2007), with themes such as identity, migration, and adapting to a new environment, felt like a reflection of my own experiences. It showed, in a confrontational way, how our society often demands that you transform yourself into something that you originally aren’t."

Favourite spot in the museum
"The corridor on the second floor, offers wonderful views of Dan Perjovschi’s large wall drawing. Using only a black marker on a white wall, he comments on both world politics and everyday life in a humorous, sharp, and sometimes painful way. He is an example of an artist who uses his work as a mirror for society."

Tip: Museum
"The Mona Lisa is, of course, a highlight of the Louvre, but the museum also exemplifies the many artworks that were looted during French colonisation. These works should truly be returned to their countries and places of origin, where they historically and culturally belong."