SEPTEMBER 2023

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FEATURE From Concept to Concrete Thamer Hannona sculpts the future BY CAL ABBO When ancient Mesopotamians carved their drawings into clay, constructed elaborate ziggurats and city gates, and designed practical and beautiful vases, their practice likely focused on their contemporaries. Thousands of year later, however, this act of creativity is kept alive by modern Chaldeans. The long thread of Chaldean artistry has found its way to Thamer Thamer Hannona Hannona. While he expresses himself through many different media and inspirations, his car designs garner national appeal and the attention of large companies. Thamer was born in Basra, Iraq in 1979, but didn’t live there very long. Before he was two years old, a massive war broke out between Iran and Iraq that would last the better part of a decade. Basra’s location on the border with Iran made it an easy target. His family moved to Kuwait, but not before his home in Basra was hit by an Iranian airstrike. War followed the Hannona family to their new home. When he was 11 years old, his birth country, Iraq, invaded Kuwait. During that time, his family moved back to Iraq, then to Jordan, and finally made it to San Diego, California. He lived there for a few years before moving to Michigan in the middle of high school. All of these transitions can be hard on some children, but Thamer seemed to flourish in spite of the change. By the time he moved to Michigan, he knew three languages fluently: Arabic, Chaldean, and English. Later, he would add a bit of Spanish and nearfluency in Brazilian Portuguese. Until high school, art for Thamer was mostly a recreational activity that he enjoyed for its own sake. Later in life, he realized his passion came in a large sense from watching his father, Habib Hannona, create his own artwork. Habib is a pioneer in the Chaldean community both in Iraq and Michigan. He is known as a jack-of-all-trades and has contributed to the world as an author, engineer, linguist, painter, poet, and much more. Perhaps most of all, Habib is famous for his historical work focusing on the history of Karamlesh, his home village, and his contributions to Chaldean history in general. But in his free time, Habib likes to relax by working on art, and that had a heavy influence on Thamer, who gained an interest in drawing cars. “I thought I would be an engineer like my dad,” he said. “I had a scholarship to go to other schools for that. But my heart wasn’t in it.” For many Chaldean students, this would be the end of the story. Their unique artistic contribution would remain a hobby and their talent would remain undeveloped. The pressure is on from their well-intentioned parents to join the professions or start a reliable business. But Thamer’s family was different, perhaps because his father experienced success in so many areas. Thus, his story continues. “At Warren Mott, in 1996, my teacher gave me a hall pass to go and visit College for Creative Studies,” Thamer noted. “It was the senior show for the car design students. All of their work, including scale models, were on display.” Thamer described this experience as a turning point in his own thinking, a realignment with what he considered possible. “It was like peeking into the future. I was instantly converted. It was love at first sight. That’s all I wanted to do since that moment,” he said. After he graduated high school, Thamer worked hard to put together HANNONA continued on page 22 20 CHALDEAN NEWS SEPTEMBER 2023
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