The Fattoush Book Exhibition in Haifa

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Aug 16, 2017 Israel
The Fattoush Book Exhibition in Haifa

The Fattoush Book Exhibition in Haifa

The Fattoush Book Exhibition, which ran from April 3-8, was more than a simple book fair where city residents and visitors could come to buy the latest Arabic language publications. Organizers of the festival turned it into a space of collaboration between publishing companies across the Arab world, from Dar al-Ahlia in Oman to Dar al-Jamal of Beirut. Gathering publications from these various publishing houses, Fattoush brought over 1,000 Arabic texts to Haifa, many of which have never been available inside the Green Line. At night, different speakers brought the texts to life. Poets and storytellers closed out two nights of the festival, reading passages from their own texts and those of other writers. This book festival, though, has an importance beyond making texts accessible and enjoyable to an audience in Haifa; it serves as one example of how to confront problems within the Arab publishing industry. 

 

Media outlets have been covering various entrepreneurs looking to solve issues of access to Arabic books; some innovators have looked at e-book development, while others have taken the audiobook route. Lead organizer of the festival, Asmaa Azaizeh, took another path to encourage engagement. Using the long tradition of Arab engagement with the arts as a tool, Azaizeh and other volunteers worked to create a program that made the exhibition more than a display of books. Each aspect of the exhibition played a role in making everything on sale—from books to music—more personal. The poets and storytellers that concluded two nights of the exhibition did so by bringing to life the texts that were being sold just one floor above. Additionally, these speakers were not strangers to the community; rather, as well known members of the Haifa community, they brought people to the exhibition. On one hand, having well-known figures at an event is a marketing tool; however, taken alongside the intent of the exhibition and its creators, having speakers and performers like Eyad Bargouthy and Rasha Nahas strengthens the sense of community already present in these spaces throughout Haifa. 

The exhibition must also be placed contextually, though. As a place, Haifa is incredibly different from other cities within the Green Line. With many political and cultural organizations such as Adalah: The Arab Law Center and the Mossawa Center located in the city and the University of Haifa just up the mountain, the public discourse seen there is not like that of cities in the center or south. This atmosphere, though, contributed to the Fattoush Book Exhibition coming to fruition and thriving. Haifa may be a bubble, but it is the place that has been able to produce phenomenal spaces like the Fattoush Book Exhibition that challenge and expand the strong literary culture throughout the city.

[This article was published originally Tadween`s Al-Diwan blog by Diwan`s editor, Mekarem Eljamal.]
Apr 6, 2017 Lebanon
York College Galleries By :
York College Galleries

Helen Zughaib: Arab Spring (Unfinished Journeys)

Late last year York College Galleries in Pennsylvania hosted Arab Spring (Unfinished Journeys), the solo exhibition of artist Helen Zughaib.

The exhibition’s featured paintings, installations, and conceptual works were created between 2008 and 2016. In these years, Zughaib watched the 2008/2009 attack on Gaza from afar, responding with scenes of grief-stricken, weeping women paralyzed beneath the fall of bombs. She also returned to her native Lebanon for the first time since fleeing war-torn Beirut in the 1970s, and produced a series of text-based paintings. Later she was hopeful when uprisings swept across North Africa and the Middle East, cloaking her figures in spiraling floral patterns; but soon began to document the number of Syrian civilians killed since 2012 with a series of public performances and related images. More recently, she has created a number of conceptual works that describe the difficulties of the mass migration that has swept across Europe from North Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia, particularly for children.

Narrated by the artist, the short film below (produced by York College Galleries) takes viewers into Arab Spring (Unfinished Journeys), revealing what inspired many of the included works and how concepts and forms aim to record the mounting devastation of this time.

Thanks to Matthew Clay-Robison, director of York College Galleries, for allowing Jadaliyya to feature this film.  

Helen Zughaib at York College from Jadaliyya on Vimeo.