2009 Grant Recipients

In 2009 the following recipients benefitted from grants from The Arab British Centre:

Banipal/Moroccan Poetry

Banipal is the UK’s leading magazine of Modern Arab Literature. In July 2009, Banipal organised an evening of Moroccan poetry at the London Review of Books, featuring work by Hassan Naimi, Ouidad Benmoussa and Siham Bouhlal. Due to visa restrictions, the first two authors were unable to attend, so their work was read out in Arabic and English by Iraqi authors Samuel Shimon and Sinan Antoon. All English translations were published in Banipal 35.

www.banipal.co.uk

Croak, The King & A Change in the Weather

The Shatila Theatre Trust encourages cultural exchanges between artists of the North-East of England the people of Shatila Refugee Camp in Lebanon.

In April 2011, a group of children from the Shatila Camp came to the UK to perform the fable Croak, The King & A Change in the Weather, written and directed by Peter Mortimer. Performances were held in North Shields, Edinburgh, Liverpool and Gateshead.

www.shatilatheatre.co.uk/wordpress/?page_id=41

The Third Eye, Selma Feriani Gallery

The Third Eye was a group exhibition of contemporary Lebanese artists curated by Costantino D’Orazio, and included works by the artists Ziad Antar, Nadim Asfar, Pascal Hachem, Lina Hakim and Johanne Issa.

The exhibition explored the conceptual development of this young generation of artists, whose practice moved away from overtly political or geocentric statements about their homeland. Featuring installation, photography and video, the artists took highly personal perspectives of themselves as the starting point, employing visual language of disillusionment and irony.

www.selmaferiani.com/exhibitions/previous/the-third-eye/14

Saqi Books, Palestinian Art Book Launch

In February 2009, Saqi Books and INIVA held a book launch for Kamal Boullata’s Palestinian Art.