Aptly titled Compressed, this sculpture series portrays Syrian detainees through the bars of their prison cells. In one of the three pieces that constitute this series, a prisoner is held in what is ostensibly solitary confinement. Another sculpture depicts two prisoners huddled together, while the third conveys a dense mass of bodies and a tangle of arms, legs, and feet. Although each of the three cells appear to hold a different number of prisoners, the theme that reoccurs in every sculpture is an oppressive, suffocating lack of space, and the absolute restriction such places upon mobility and movement.

In a text composed as part of Compressed, the artist writes:
In this square, I no longer have any contours of my own.
The bodies of the others are mine.
A hand moves, perhaps it's mine, perhaps it’s his or hers, perhaps it’s ours…

Syrian sculptor Khaled Dawwa's work addresses the suffering of Syrian people, engaging the topics of war, imprisonment, and exile. A political refugee himself, Dawwa was granted asylum in France in 2014, and is currently based in Marseilles.