Born in Hama, Syria in 1935, Alwani studied painting and theatrical design at the Accademia di Belle Arti, Florence, and in Paris. He is currently on the Fine Arts faculty board at the University of Damascus. Humanity, with its justice and injustice, is always the theme of Alwani's work. The format is deceptively simple and the technique straight-forward. Each painting freezes its statement in a border of colour which serves also as foreground to the action taking place inside. Often figures reach outside the borders — trying to enter the main scene or trying to escape it. His themes are universal, yet are drawn from the past and present of the society in which he lives.