Jaber made art with political messages, including paintings that incorporated parts of chairs, which she says are symbols of power in Syria. 

“The president, the boss, the sheikhs who say this is halal and this is not halal, you can do that, you can’t do that,” she says. “They control everything, these people who sit in these chairs everywhere.” 

As the uprising against the Syrian government devolved into civil war, Jaber says her commute to work outside Damascus became nearly impossible. Then the university where she worked along with her husband, a ceramic artist, came under attack.