Projects tagged "Middle East"

Iranian Documentary ‘The Gardener', on Religion and Baha’i Garden
Practitioner:
Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Date:
Feb 1 2012
The Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf opens “The Gardener” with the declaration: “I am an agnostic filmmaker.” From anyone else, this might seem like a simple statement, but not from the complex Mr. Makhmalbaf. In 1974, when he was 17, religious and involved in a guerrilla group, he stabbed a policeman, for which he received a bullet to the stomach and a prison sentence.
Syria's Creative Resistance
Practitioner:
Reported by Layla Al-Zubaidi
Date:
Jan 1 2012
Bashar al-Assad snores, his head twitching on a large white pillow. Suddenly, he wakes up. “The people want to overthrow me!” he screams, the pompom on his nightcap bouncing. 
Bug Splat
Practitioner:
Bug Splat Project
Date:
Apr 12 2014
A giant art installation targets predator drone operators In military slang, Predator drone operators often refer to kills as ‘bug splats’, since viewing the body through a grainy video image gives the sense of an insect being crushed.
Domestic Tension
Practitioner:
Wafaa Bilal
Date:
May 1 2007
Wafaa Bilal's childhood in Iraq was defined by the horrific rule of Saddam Hussein, two wars, a bloody uprising, and time spent interned in chaotic refugee camps in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Bilal eventually made it to the U.S. to become a professor and a successful artist, but when his brother was killed at a U.S. checkpoint in 2005, he decided to use his art to confront those in the comfort zone with the realities of life in a conflict zone.
Protests and Posters in Kafranbel, Syria
Practitioner:
Activists in Kafranbel, Raed Fares
Date:
Dec 30 2011
A town in northwestern Syria has become the creative center of the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad. Since the beginning of the uprising, the residents of Kafr Anbel have drawn signs that skewer the Assad regime and express outrage that the world has not done more to stop the killing in Syria.
Two Female Graffiti Artists in Afghanistan
Practitioner:
Shamsia Hassani and Malina Suliman
Date:
Apr 3 2013
Meet Shamsia Hassani. At age 24, she is one of Afghanistan's first female graffiti artists. An associate professor of sculpture at Kabul University, she was first introduced to graffiti in 2010 by British artist, Chu, during a week-long course in street art. Meet also Malina Suliman, 23, who has been receiving threats from extremists due to her work in graffiti.
Burkaphilia
Practitioner:
Behnaz Babazadeh
Date:
Jun 1 2012
When Behnaz Babazadeh was young, her family moved from Afghanistan to the US. She loved almost everything about her new home — especially America’s amazing selection of candy — but she also loved wearing her familiar pink-flowered headscarf, which she’d grown used to wearing as part of her school uniform in her old home.
A street art project paints a brighter future for Syrian refugee camps
Practitioner:
Awareness & Prevention Through Art (AptART)
Date:
Feb 1 2014
Following on from Ruben Shanchez's mural on the Syrain boader, we head back to the same subject with Awareness & Prevention Through Art (AptART) is a not-for-profit organisation that aims to give vulnerable children an artistic experience with an opportunity to express themselves as well as an outlet to build awareness and promote prevention about the issues that affect their lives.
Poetry and silence: Iran's Kurds tread the line between art and activism
Practitioner:
Iranian Kurds
Date:
Feb 26 2016
In a sleepy town in Iranian Kurdistan, people take off their winter coats. It is evening, and outside one can just about discern the silhouettes of the mountains that lead to the Turkish and Iraqi borders. Inside, some 60 people fill the small community centre with a clammy heat. But it is not just warmth they are after. They have come for poetry.
Parliament in Exile
Practitioner:
Cressida Kocienski, Delfina Foundation Palestine & Decolonizing Architecture Art Residency
Date:
Jan 28 2012
Decolonizing Architecture/Art Residency (DAAR) is an art and architecture collective set up by Alessandro Petti, Sandi Hilal and Eyal Weizman, based in Palestine. Their work is a critical examination of the role played by architecture in the occupation of the Palestinian territories.
The Dark Side of Creative Activism - Sudanese Refugees in Tel Aviv
Practitioner:
Michael Ben-Ari and Itamar Ben-Gvir
Date:
Jun 12 2011
Unfortunately, those who struggle for a more equal and democratic society are not the only ones who can make use of creative forms of activism. The following example shows how creative strategies can also be employed by those who have less wholesome intentions in mind.
Guerilla Projections for Palestine
Practitioner:
Decolonize This Place, Within Our Lifetime
Date:
May 13 2021
As the death toll from Israel’s attacks on the besieged Gaza Strip continues to rise, a guerrilla projection on May 13, 2021 illuminated a building in Brooklyn’s Dumbo neighborhood with messages of solidarity with Palestinians.
Lebanon’s migrant domestic workers demand equal rights
Practitioner:
domestic workers
Date:
May 5 2012
There are over 200,000 migrant domestic workers living in Lebanon today — a large number when you considered that Lebanon’s population is only a little over 4 million. Most migrant workers live with their Lebanese employers, cleaning their houses, washing their clothes, cooking their food and looking after their children. Yet these workers are not included under Lebanon’s labor laws — they are not entitled to
Afghan Activist Urges Taliban Engagement
Practitioner:
Female right activists
Date:
Feb 18 2023
ISLAMABAD — A prominent female rights activist in Afghanistan lambasted the global community Saturday for failing to come up with a plan or agreement on how to help her crisis-ridden country since the Taliban took control of it 18 months ago. Mahbouba Seraj, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, spoke virtually from the Afghan capital, Kabul, to a town hall at the Munich Security Conference on prospects for her country under Taliban rule.
Human Syria
Practitioner:
persnal photos
Date:
Feb 7 2016
The wreckage of the Syrian city of Homs became the bittersweet backdrop for a young couple’s wedding pictures. Nada Merhi, 18, wore a traditional white gown when she married camouflage-clad Hassan Youssef, 27, on Friday. Youssef is a soldier in Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s army, which took Homs from rebels in November.
Graffiti on the West Bank Barrier
Practitioner:
Various Artists
Date:
Jan 1 2004
In June 2002, the Israeli Government decided to construct a physical barrier separating Israel and the West Bank. The declared purpose of this (as yet unfinished) 709 kilometers long barrier—which came to be known as Gader Ha’hafrada (The Separation Wall)—was to prevent the entry of Palestinian terrorists from the occupied territories into Israel in order to protect Israeli citizens.
Irish Reactions to Palestine and Israel
Practitioner:
Pro-Palestinian Activists in Ireland
Date:
Nov 1 2023
Palestinian and Israeli flags flutter in pro-Irish and pro-UK neighbourhoods in Northern Ireland, tapping into its own history of conflict and division that still affects everyday life despite a 1998 peace deal that largely ended violence.
52 weeks in Abu Dhabi
Practitioner:
international artists
Date:
Nov 13 2013
A coalition of international artists has begun a year-long protest against the mistreatment and exploitation of migrant workers building Abu Dhabi's £17bn cultural hub, including the world's largest Guggenheim and a branch of the Louvre.
#Stripforjackie: Lebanese Olympic skier sparks social media campaign about free speech
Practitioner:
Cynthia-Maria Aramouni, Mohamad Abdouni, Tarek Moukaddem, Carl Halal
Date:
Feb 10 2014
A Lebanese Olympic skier whose topless calendar prompted calls for a ministerial inquiry has unwittingly sparked a social media campaign backing her, with supporters stripping off in solidarity. Three years ago, Jackie Chamoun posed for a calendar photo shoot. Behind-the-scenes footage recently was posted online, and Lebanon's sports and youth minister reportedly ordered an investigation.
Dancing in Syria
Practitioner:
Syrian protesters
Date:
Dec 19 2011
In Protests, Syrians Find the Spark of Creativity 
In Beirut, solar panels and water tanks tell a story of decline
Practitioner:
Dia Mrad
Date:
Jan 1 2023
Dia Mrad’s people-free photographs capture the resourcefulness of the Beirut population
The Bank
Practitioner:
SUPERFLEX
Date:
Oct 2 2013
Many of the banks originally situated on Bank Street in Sharjah have left for more lucrative locations, so we have imagined a new, non-monetary banking model for the street. What if we were to regard the sum total of memories and stories of the people in this area as the real capital of the street? And what if this new currency could be invested in the new Bank Street and converted into physical objects?
'Can You Hear the Screams?' Physician Says Western Leaders Complicit in Israeli Attacks on Gaza Hospitals
Practitioner:
Dr. Mads Gilbert
Date:
Nov 11 2023
A Norwegian physician who has volunteered in Gaza for decades said Friday that Western leaders, including U.S. President Joe Biden, are complicit in Israel's intensifying assault on the Palestinian enclave's hospitals, which are overwhelmed with airstrike victims and displaced people seeking refuge.
Arabian Nights
Practitioner:
Scheherazad
Date:
The development of the Nights from the oriental oral and literary traditions of the Middle Ages into a classical work for Western readers is a fascinating one. The notebook of a Jewish book dealer from Cairo around the year 1150 contains the first documentary evidence for the Arabic title. The oldest preserved manuscripts, comprising a core corpus of about 270 nights, appear to date from the 15th century.
On World Cartoonists Day India’s political cartoonists on the art of cartooning
Practitioner:
Cartoonists in India
Date:
May 5 2016
On your doorstep, or in their neighbourhood hotel, or the local tea shop, the media bring to you a world full of troubles. But along with that, they’ve had some consideration for your funny bone and give you a daily dose of laughter by publishing the work of some of the finest cartoonists in the country. “ On May 5 – World Cartoonist Day – here’s bringing you a glimpse of your favourite illustrators and what keeps them going. EP Unny

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