Artists Nour Hage and Aya Haidar come together with the Tatreez Collective in a discussion about the role of women in the creation of textiles and the notion of matrilineal transmission of identity and memory through these skills. The panel will be moderated by Dr Venetia Porter, Honorary Research Fellow, British Museum, Former Curator of […]
We’re delighted to once again be partnering with Arab Women Artists Now Festival (AWAN) to host an industry-focused workshop in March. Demystify the music industry in this 2-hour session led by Sarah El Miniawy, founder of Simsara Music, tarkeeza.com and most recently Simsara Records. We will start by identifying the entities and specialisations found in any […]
Nour Hage: Kheit خيط (28 April – 16 July 2023) is an exhibition and event series in collaboration with Leighton House, the 19th century home of artist Lord Frederic Leighton. Meaning ‘thread’ in Arabic, Kheit presents three artworks created in response to the tiles in the Arab Hall and staircase hall. An award-wining textile artist, Nour has also researched the museum’s collection of antique […]
You Resemble Me | Released 3 February 2023 Drama | French, Arabic| 90 mins | Directed by Dina Amer You Resemble Me tells the true story of Hasna Aït Boulahcen, a woman who was falsely accused of being Europe’s first female suicide bomber. Cultural and generational trauma erupt in this story about two sisters on […]
Birmingham and the West Midlands have served as a place of hope, ambition and sanctuary to many communities over its history. But history is not made from statistics and patterns – it is made from individual stories and experiences. This final talk of the series will focus on the unique stories of those left their […]
What makes people leave their country and move to another? Like many of the major cities in Britain, Birmingham became home to people from many different countries after World War II. Although the Yemeni community has the longest history in the city, the second half of the 20th century saw the arrival of other Arab communities: […]
Many of the earliest Arabs who lived, worked and settled in Britain were merchants and traders from Syria, or lascars from Yemen who laboured on the trade ships of the British East India Company and eventually settled in Britain. What records do we have of this history in the West Midlands? What attracted the Yemeni […]
Why did Queen Elizabeth I want to keep friendly relations with the Moroccan Sultan? What do we know about the Moroccan ambassador who visited London in 1600 and inspired the famous painting of the ‘Moorish Ambassador’? Was he really the inspiration for Othello? When was the Quran first translated into English and what did the […]
Did King John really offer to convert to Islam when he sent an embassy to the Almohad Caliph, al-Nasir in 1215? Which scholars helped translate Arabic works from Arabic into Latin and how did this influence the curriculum at English universities? Why did so many Arabic words enter the English language in the medieval period? […]
Are you interested in Islamic art and textiles and based in Kensington and Chelsea? Join artist Nour Hage in a series of 5 workshops where you’ll learn new skills and co-create a textile artwork inspired by Leighton House’s Arab Hall and their newly acquired textile collection. The artwork will be displayed as part of Kheit, an […]