About the Residents
The creative practices of the 10 resident artists span across the art and media spectrum employing photography, film, painting, sculpture and performance art.
Jad El Koury with his Burj el Haway (The Tower of Wind), Daria Pugachova with her artivism performances (pictured) and Tania Cañas with her 'Unwelcome' mats through their work have all used the interplay between their art and the public space. In that way, inviting and interacting with a wider audience. In the words of Daria: “By performing in public places, I connect with all kinds of people (...) Some of them may never attend exhibitions. So art should step out of galleries and become a part of everyday life, thereby changing it”.
Artists Diala Brisly and Khalid Shatta (pictured) use painting, in different stylistic forms to express and work through histories and traumas. For instance Khalid through modernist painting inspiration works to uncover his Nuba cultural heritage, largely lost under Islamic conquest and European Colonialism, at a time when he himself felt isolated from his understanding of self. Diala Brisly uses her paintbrush to express her complicated emotions and multifaceted experiences from the war in Syria; by telling stories and painting self-portraits to help her through her trauma.
Similarly, Nastassja Nefjodov (pictured), and Yamile Calderon have used lens based mediums to explore memories and history. For instance Nastassja takes an intergenerational approach to history by linking family photo archives and personal stories with ruptures in European history. In a recent photo book Yamile documents confiscated property of Colombian drug traffickers while approaching the topic informed by her childhood memories. Similarly, Ayman AlAzraq uses film to capture and tell stories of oppression.
Yanina Zaichanka (pictured) expresses through embroidering and sculpture the effects and experiences of increasing oppression and violence in Belarus. Different mediums have also been combined by Iman Jabrah in her thorn sculptures to explore the culture, experience and history of being Palestinian.
The diverse backgrounds and approaches of the residents are tied together through their experiences of conflict and oppression. Even so, the residency creates a temporary community, where there is space for exchange of experiences, dialogue, listening and sharing along with creative practice. The residents in their practice continue to add further nuance to the conversation on the role of creative practices in impacting local and global narratives and opening up spaces of community.
Read more about the artists involved by clicking on their profiles below:
Motaz Al Habbash (Organizer)
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