How the world’s oldest masks tell a story of Palestinian dispossession
MIDDLE EAST EYE (18.5.2021) When a British missionary rode through al-Ram in 1881 asking for antiquities, residents of the Palestinian village tried to stop him from taking the local treasures. Armed with guns, a group of men confronted him and refused to let him take the village’s ancient stone mask. At least, this is how […]
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Meet Qahera, the Muslim superheroine fighting bigots instead of comic book villains
WASHINGTON POST/THE LILY (22/6/2020) “I can hear it! The sound of … misogynistic trash!” says Qahera. Carrying a sword as sharp as her wit and wearing a veil that is sometimes used to conceal her identity, the Muslim superheroine is out to fight against injustice. Her “super hearing” helps her detect misogynists, but also racists […]
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Detained in Jordan for disobeying men, girls use art to tell their stories
OPENDEMOCRACY (21/5/2020) Madeleine is seventeen and dreams of being a chef. But her ambitions have been curtailed. She is behind bars in a juvenile detention centre in Jordan, waiting to be released into the care of a male family member. “This is the story of a girl in prison: me,” wrote Shahed, another teenage girl […]
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For these Syrian artists, humor is essential to coping with oppression and war
WASHINGTON POST (14/1/2019) When they hear shelling outside their apartment in Damascus, close to the front line, Rand and Hala start to laugh. They were just talking about artillery. “Rand called a bomb and it came immediately,” jokes Hala. “Call God,” she tells her friend. “But God won’t come,” she continues, as they keep laughing. […]
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“Ideas cannot be killed with weapons” – remembering Raed Fares
QANTARA DW (22/11/2019) “Black Friday Special Offer“ read a banner held by activists in Kafranbel, a small town in northern Syria. “Bring your enemy and come to fight in Syria for free“. When the Syrian uprising against the authoritarian regime of Bashar al-Assad began in 2011, Kafranbel protesters displayed eye-catching messages on a weekly basis. “ASSad is the source of […]
Read →Meet Fado Bicha, Portugal’s queer anti-racist feminist musicians
OPENDEMOCRACY (28.8.2019) 2019 got off to a bad start in Portugal. In January, the leader of a far-right group – who spent 12 years in prison for his role in a racist murder and other hate crimes – was invited to speak on one of Portugal’s most popular TV talk shows. On air, he argued that the country needs a new […]
Read →Music and art help Yazidi genocide survivors to heal
EQUAL TIMES (1/7/2019) In an art therapy session for Yazidi survivors, a girl drew a portrait of her friend who committed suicide to avoid rape while under Da’esh (the so-called Islamic State, or IS) captivity. Another one drew a butterfly because her biggest wish, she explained, was to be able to fly away. These girls […]
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Framing Hope: Refugee Children in Jordan Explore Analogue Photography
LOMOGRAPHY MAGAZINE (5/2/2019) Forced to flee war with their families and to leave their homes, Iraqi and Syrian youth living in Jordan saw their childhood disrupted by displacement. But their photos still manage to capture the beauty that surrounds them: olive trees, smiles, flowers, and rays of light. In the autumn of 2018, eighteen children […]
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Kashmiris turn to art to challenge Indian rule
AL-JAZEERA (20/3/2018) Kashmir has a rich tradition of artisan culture. Intricate woodcarvings, colourful papier-mache and exquisite cashmere scarfs made the Himalayan valley renowned for its fine handcrafts. Cashmere scarfs are usually embroidered with flowers and birds, but the artists Mahum Shabir and Mir Suhail wanted to challenge conventional representations of Kashmir and its crafts by designing […]
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Palestinian refugees use street art to keep hope alive
MIDDLE EAST EYE (14/9/2017) Streets are dim and narrow in the Palestinian refugee camp of Burj al-Barajneh, in southern Beirut. Walls are so high in the camp’s thread-like alleys, that in some places daylight is nowhere to be found. Yet colours burst off the walls where murals have been painted by Palestinian artists using art […]
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