This half-day symposium will explore the rich variety of ways in which women working across the Middle East, and across various creative practices (art, literature, film, journalism, blogging, curating), have sought to tell their, and others’, stories. Reflecting on issues such as the politics of self-representation, the challenges and possibilities afforded by their identities as women, and the nature of their creative practice, the symposium seeks to construct a range of interdisciplinary, transnational conversations through which women are able to explore the ways their stories intersect and diverge, constructing dynamic narratives of creativity, gender and representation within the Middle East. This symposium is part of NAE’s Ishraqah festival of Middle Eastern art and culture. It has been made possible with support from the College of the Arts at The University of Lincoln.

Symposium Speakers

Dr Anna Ball
Symposium Chair

Anna is Lecturer in English at Nottingham Trent University, UK. Her research focuses on the intersection of postcolonial and feminist theory, particularly in the context of contemporary Middle Eastern writing and film. She has published work on topics ranging from gender in Palestinian cinema to the portrayal of sexual violence in Arab women’s writing. Her monograph, Palestinian Literature and Film in Postcolonial Feminist Perspective, was published on the Routledge Research in Postcolonial Literatures Series in 2012.

Dr Fadia Faqir

Fadia is the author of Nisanit, Pillar of Salt and My Name is Salma/ The Cry of the Dove. The prologue of her fourth novel At the Midnight Kitchen was published in Weber Studies and won their 2009 fiction prize. Her short story ‘Under the Cypress Tree’ was shortlisted for the Bridport Prize 2010 and will be published in Wasafiri soon. Dr Faqir received an Arts Council of England grant to write her fifth novel, The Terrorist’s Daughter. She also frequently writes on issues related to Arab and Muslim women.

Lina Ben Mhenni

Lina is a Tunisian internet activist, blogger and lecturer who received a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this year for her documentation of the Arab Spring. Lina is one of the most prominent bloggers in the Arab world and she will join us from Tunisia for this event to discuss her influential blog A Tunisian Girl, and her fascinating experiences as an international blogger working in the midst of revolution. Lina also won the Deutsche Welle International Blog Award and El Mundo’s International Journalism Prize in 2011.

Dalia Khamissy
Rawiya Artist

Born in Beirut, Dalia Khamissy’s work revolves around the social and socio-political stories in the Middle Eastern region, documenting mostly the aftermath of Lebanon’s wars and issues concerning women rights. Dalia’s work has been published on the BBC, Aperture Magazine, The Times, Amnesty International, Ibraaz, Le Monde, and Wall Street Journal amongst others.

Tamara Abdul Hadi
Rawiya Artist

Tamara Abdul Hadi was born to Iraqi parents in the UAE and raised in Canada. After graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts she moved to Dubai. Her personal photography projects deal with issues of social injustice and deconstructing stereotypes. She has been published in The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, New York Times and The Financial Times.

Myriam Abdelaziz
Rawiya Artist

Myriam Abdelaziz is a French photographer of Egyptian origins, born in Cairo. Her images have been published in Newsweek, Time Magazine, Forbes Magazine and The British Journal of Photography.

Yasmina Reggad

Yasmina is an independent curator and Director of Photo-Festivals. Recent projects include Ce n’est pas du sang, c’est du rouge. Yasmina Co-Founded the Photo Forum Beirut (Lebanon) and is currently the co-ordinator of Artist Residency in Algiers (A.R.I.A) established by artist Zineb Sedira. Yasmina will be in conversation with the Rawiya exhibiting artists discussing the benefits of being a collective, whilst discussing gender issues and the place of photography in contemporary arts in the Middle East and Iran.

Dr Zahera Harb

Zahera is a Lebanese journalist and academic. She has 11 years’ experience as a journalist in Lebanon working for various media organisations. She started as a news reporter and distinguished herself in particular in the coverage of war operations in the battlefield of South Lebanon. She was co-producer and presenter of a popular socio-political programme (Khamseh Ala Sabaah, 5/7) before becoming one of the main news anchors at Tele Liban (the public service TV station in Lebanon). Zahera is currently senior lecturer in International Journalism at City University London.

Dr Marta Weiss

Marta is Curator of Photographs at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Her most recent project is ‘Light from the Middle East: New Photography’ (at the V&A until 7 April 2013). Marta has also curated exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum and the Princeton University Art Museum. Marta will be presenting on her recent V&A exhibition, and she will be ‘in conversation’ with NAE’s Armindokht Shoosthtari, a specialist in photography from Iran and the Middle East.

Anastasia Valassopoulos
Symposium Co-Chair

Anastasia is Lecturer in World Literatures at the University of Manchester and is the author of Contemporary Arab Women Writers (2007). She has written and published widely on Arab popular culture, Arab and transnational feminisms and Middlen Eastern film. She has recently edited several journal special issues on the topics of: Arab Feminisms; literary responses to the war on terror (with Robert Spencer); Arab Cultural Studies. Anastasia is currently working on a British Academy funded project that focuses on contemporary Arab cinema.

How to book:

Admission: £10 (£8 concessions) including light refreshments
Please book in advance as places are limited to 65.
Please call NAE’s box office: 0115 9248630
We advise you arrive at NAE early to view the exhibition before the symposium. NAE’s café will be open all day serving delicious home cooked dishes from around the world!
Friday, 15th February 2013
2.00pm to 6.00pm

New Art Exchange
39 - 41 Gregory Boulevard
Nottingham NG7 6BE