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Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - By Mike V. Derderian - Do you remember the long school hours you spent gazing out of the window and the daydreams that followed, accompanied by writings and doodles on your assigned school desk?

Some time not long ago, a student used to spend the tedious hours of an uneventful school day daydreaming. Confined in a one-seater school desk, daydreams saved that imaginative kid from the horrors of solving math and chemistry equations spread across the pasty chalkboard.

Today, those desks are treasured by anyone born in the 1980s. And when nostalgia hit, the “Back to School” project came to life, where 20 Jordanian artists were given the tools and freedom to transform old school desks into art pieces.

The creative project is the brainchild of illustrator, writer and founder of F.A.D.A. 317 Mike V. Derderian - AKA Sardine. The idea came to Mike a year ago, but he was unable to put it into action until early December 2016.

Mike says that the countless hours he spent sitting on a school desk between 1995-1997 is what inspired this idea. After all, he found his identity as an artist thanks to that old wooden piece of furniture.

“I've spent years drawing Spank and Marilyn Monroe and other characters on my school desks. One day I dared draw a girl whom I had a crush on in 11th grade. I was fortunate enough not to get fined by the school for drawing on my desk. It might have been luck, or maybe teachers just did not care for a ‘slow’ student who spent his time daydreaming,” says Mike.

The “Back to School” exhibition features the works of the following artists:

Dina A. Fawakhiri, Suha Sultan, Hiba Wasef, Lubna Juqqa, Linda Al-Ali, Ibrahim Tonnerieux, Eman Hamdallah, Lutfi Zayed, Farah Al Hourani, Fadi Abu Al-Edam Bones, Suzanne Saoub, Mo Awwad, Yassir Ameen, Shamekh Al-Bluwi, Joanna A. Arida, Natasha Dahdaleh, Raya Suheil Baqaeen, Odai Al Jalil, Mike V.Derderian and Alhudood.

F.A.D.A. 317 would like to thank Mlabbas (Imad Shawa), Fann Wa Chai (Linda Al Khoury), Samir and Ghassan (Rebecca Odeh) and Red Bull (Raed Serhan & Ronza Ayoub) for helping make the “Back to School” exhibition come to life.

F.A.D.A. 317 also thanks the artists with the beautiful minds who agreed to be a part of this show.

Mike V. Derderian: F.A.D.A. 317

Mike V. Derderian is the founder of F.A.D.A. 317, an independent art space and a meeting point for cartoonists, illustrators, graffiti and street artists, and sculptors in Amman, Jordan.

Curated by Mike, F.A.D.A. 317 is located in Jabal Amman, where visitors will find themselves watching a different type of art than the ones they come across in Amman’s galleries.

F.A.D.A. 317 is an art reaction reflective of a visual, written, spoken and drawn identity that has been spreading its roots in the Jordanian underground community.

The studio is an opportunity for those who do not have an opportunity. It is a place where the works of local and international artists, that reflect the culture of cartoons and comics, be it Eastern or Western, are showcased.