Various resources
On this page we’ve compiled some resources dealing with the various issues related to being an artist in diaspora. Some of the texts we’ve commissed from artists we’ve worked with, some of the links below lead you to research we find interesting.
Opinion piece
A Woman Crawling Slowly and Tirelessly
Author: Shirin Farshbaf
After September 2022 so many demonstrations and events took place all over the world. Woman, Life, Freedom (Jin, Jiyan, Azadî) is a Feminist movement which started in Iran after the regime killed Mahsa Amini for not wearing a hijab which has been mandated among women after the Islamic revolution in 1979. I, though not living in Iran for the last 4 years […]
Opinion piece
A Collective Roar against Silence
Author: Luna Al-Mousli
My art serves as a multifaceted reflection, echoing the geopolitical and social intricacies of both my hometown, Damascus, and the new spaces I inhabit, such as Vienna. Marwan Makhoul's words resonate deeply: "in order for me to write poetry that isn't political, I must listen to the birds, and in order for me to hear the birds, the war planes must be silent." […]
Opinion piece
An Immanent Breeze - The Need for Poetry in Times of Silence
Author: “Joseph” Mong-sum Leung (Alumnus of the QMA Artist Collective 2023)
What is the difference between a ‘demand’ and a ‘necessity’? To begin with, they are both forms of solicitations that set us in a motion of response. Yet, they essentially stem from different origins, with a demand being transcendental in nature and sources from the ‘outside’, whereas a necessity originates from one’s immanence and emerges as an urgency ‘within’. […]
Mapping
Creation and displacement
Developing new narratives around migration
Authors: Yasmin Fedda, Daniel Gorman, Tory Davidson
This mapping aims to showcase some of the incredible artistic projects taking place in Europe and internationally with a focus on support, solidarity and engagement with refugees, asylum-seekers and those who are recently displaced. Everywhere across Europe and beyond, contemporary performing artists are showing their role as an immediate reaction task-force to help in humanitarian crises, and use their skills to help bring relief or even heal wounds and help newcomers integrate into society. This mapping can help you connect with other artists and organisations working on this urgent topic.
Mapping
Everybody wants a refugee on stage: Conversations around contemporary artistic engagement with migration
Authors: Daniel Gorman and Rana Yazaji
This publication is a follow-up of our mapping "Creation and Displacement" (2016). With this update, we are going back to some of the projects considered as good examples of initiatives engaging creatively with displacement, without shying away from challenges and failures. We aim to look critically at the way such initiatives developed and sustained themselves, and at the impacts on the participants and on the artists and creators. Above all, we aim to give a voice to the people who were directly involved in the organisation and management of the projects, who have dedicated years to use the power of the arts and culture to build bridges between newcomers and locals, often in a hostile political environment.