Latest news with #BaselZaraa
Irish Examiner
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
'It shares the Palestinian experience of displacement': Basel Zaraa on his Cork Midsummer installation
Can you describe what Dear Laila involves? Dear Laila is an intimate, interactive installation experienced by one audience member at a time, which shares the Palestinian experience of displacement and resistance, through the story of one family. I created it in response to my daughter Laila, who was then five, asking where I grew up, and why we couldn't go there. As I couldn't take her to Yarmouk, the Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus where I grew up, I tried to bring it to her by making a model of our now destroyed family home. The audience member sits in Laila's shoes and learns the story of the house, through the miniature, an audio piece, objects and photos. The story of the house is the story of our family, which in turn is the story of millions of Palestinians. What do you hope an Irish audience will get from it? I hope that this personal approach makes audiences feel more connected to the experience. As Palestinians, our individual experiences tell political stories. And this is not something we have chosen, but something that has been forced upon us by history. I wanted to show how these historical events are experienced in the everyday lives of ordinary people. Can you tell us about your family history? We are from a village called Tantura in the north of Palestine. My grandparents used be a farmers, and in 1948, the year of the Nakba, a Zionist armed group attacked my village and carried out a massacre, killing more than 200 people from my village. Those who survived, were forced to leave, and my great-grandparents were among them. They went to Syria, thinking they would stay for a bit and go back, but that never happened as Israel didn't allow anyone to go back to their homes and towns. More than 750,000 Palestinian forced to leave their homes that year. Now I am one of the third generation to be born and grow up as a refugee in Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp, which is one of 12 Palestinian camps in Syria. Did your parents/grandparents continue to hope they would return home to Palestine? Most of the Palestinians I know still have keys to their homes, or title deeds to prove that they owned a home in Palestine. As you say, I am one of the third generation that was born and grew up in a Palestinian refugee camp, and there are hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees still living as refugees today without any other nationality, in refugee camps in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, West Bank and Gaza. They are waiting to go back home, as is our right recognised by the UN resolution 194, which states that 'Refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date'. Dear Laila was inspired by Basel Zaraa's desire to show his daughter their home in a Syrian refugee camp. For you, Yarmouk seems to have really been a home – albeit with a desire to return to Palestine. What were the circumstances of when you had to leave? Like all refugee camps, Yarmouk meant to be temporary, somewhere to stay until we returned to our villages and homes, but the tents became 'cement tents', and we got stuck there, generation after generation. So it's strange to say that Yarmouk, a refugee camp, was our home, but it was, and when we lost it, it felt like losing a home again. I left just before the uprising began, on a spouse visa, expecting to be able to return to visit. But after the uprising started in Syria, Yarmouk became one of the worst hit places by the war, following a pattern of destruction of Palestinian camps that we often see in the region. Most of the camp got destroyed and most of its residents got displaced and were forced to leave their homes again, which brought back the trauma of our first exile, when my grandparents were forced to leave Palestine. Are there particular possessions that were important for you to take to the UK? When I left I didn't know I'd be unable to return for a long time, or that when I returned the camp would be destroyed. The thing that has been most important for me is how we could rescue photos from Yarmouk, to preserve memories of happy moments in the camp, so our visual memory was not only of its destruction. When my father went back to see the camp after the siege was lifted, he was able to get some of the photos from rubble, and I use these photos in Dear Laila. Obviously, what's happening in Gaza and beyond recently has reached whole new levels of horror. How has that affected you, both personally and in terms your art? We as Palestinians have been living in trauma for 77 years - the wars haven't stopped, from 1948 to 1967, Black October in the 1970s, the siege of Beirut in 1982, the first and second Intifada, military and settler attacks in the West Bank, and the siege and continued attacks on Gaza over the last 20 years... Personally, to witness what happened to my camp, Yarmouk, and to my neighbours and family and people, was a big trauma, which affected me, and most of us from the camp, deeply. It took time for us to be able to comprehend what was happening to us. Art is a way of understanding this trauma and healing our wounds by facing what has happened, and telling our story. My works try to tell the story of my community, in the face of the occupation's attempt to create a false narrative about what they have done to us. I feel this is my responsibility, as a Palestinian, as an artist and as a human. Art always plays a big role in defending the oppressed and defending truth, and this is clear when you see how the occupation tries to suppress these expressions, whether that's the assassination of the writer Ghassan Kanafani, or the killing of journalists and intellectuals in Gaza today. What do you think of the boycott movement (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) against Israel, particularly in an arts context? BDS is an essential and effective tool for people around the world to show solidarity with Palestine and put pressure on the occupation, now more than ever. As witnesses to the ongoing genocide, we must put pressure on Israel with all the tools available to us, and the example of South Africa shows us that boycotts work. Obviously, the situation in Syria is fluid, but what are your thoughts on returning to Yarmouk, possibly bringing Laila? I returned to Syria after the fall of the regime. I wanted to witness this important moment in Syria's history, and was able to go a month after the dictatorship fell. The dictatorship had been there for half a century, and, particularly in recent years, it felt like it would never fall, but it did, which is a reminder that although the road to freedom can be long, nothing lasts forever. It was incredible to witness Syrians celebrating these first moments of freedom, and when I was there my mind was in Palestine and imagining when this moment will come for us too. I didn't take my daughter Laila or my son Ibrahim with me this time, but I hope to in the future. It was hard to see Yarmouk destroyed, we had always seen it on the news so much, but in real life it affects you much more strongly. But it was also nice to see the first time they had Eid in Yarmouk, with swings and children playing in the streets. It gave a feeling of hope for the future. Dear Laila is on June 20-22 at MicroGALLERY, on Grand Parade, Cork. Tickets: €8. See
The Guardian
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
The Guardian view on the Moomins at 80: in search of a home
All Moomin fans will recognise the turreted blue house that is home to the family of gentle, upright‑hippo‑like creatures. The stove-shaped tower is a symbol of comfort and welcome throughout the nine Moomin novels by the celebrated Nordic writer and artist Tove Jansson. Now the house is the inspiration for a series of art installations in UK cities, in collaboration with Refugee Week, to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the creation of the Moomins. Taking the motto 'The door is always open', building will begin next week on a 12ft blue house outside London's Southbank Centre, just a stone's throw from Westminster. All of the installations, by artists from countries including Afghanistan, Syria and Romania, deal with displacement: in Bradford, the Palestinian artist Basel Zaraa has created a refugee tent in which to imagine life after occupation and war; in Gateshead, natural materials are being foraged to build To Own Both Nothing and the Whole World (a quote from Jansson's philosophical character Snufkin); and a Moomin raft will launch from Gloucester Docks. Begun in the winter of 1939 and published in 1945, the first book, The Moomins and the Great Flood, was a 'fairytale', as Jansson called it, born out of the darkness of war. A mother and her son set off across an unfamiliar land – overcoming dangers, natural disasters and hostile creatures – in search of their missing family and a place to build a new home. It was the story of millions of refugees after the second world war, and an all-too familiar one across the world today. In their themes of loneliness, a search for identity and freedom, the Moomin books speak to anyone who feels that they don't belong. In Finn Family Moomintroll, the inseparable Thingumy and Bob (reflecting the nicknames of Jansson and her lover, the theatre director Vivica Bandler) arrive in Moominland speaking a strange language and carrying a suitcase containing a ruby, a metaphor for their secret love – homosexuality was illegal in Finland until 1971. Growing up on a housing estate outside Liverpool, Frank Cottrell-Boyce, the children's laureate, was astounded that 'a book written by a bohemian Finnish lesbian' seemed to be speaking directly to him. According to Philip Pullman, Jansson should have won the Nobel prize in literature. All the inhabitants of Moominvalley come in wildly different shapes and sizes. Tiny, furious Little My is adopted by the Moomin family because 'no one else dared'. The Groke, a symbol of gloom who turns everything she touches into ice, is simply looking for warmth and is not to be feared. Unlike Paddington, that other postwar refugee, this is the newcomer narrative as acceptance rather than assimilation. Today, the Moomins have become a brand, valued more for being cute than kind. Jansson would doubtless be thrilled that her legacy is being used as part of Refugee Week to foster understanding rather than to flog pencil cases and oven mitts. Moominland is a fairytale, far from our 21st-century refugee crisis. But this magical world provides a quietly radical message of tolerance, inclusivity and hope. Moominvalley might be described as 'an island of strangers', to borrow the prime minister's unfortunate phrase, and is all the better for it: it is a place where you don't have to fit in to belong. As Jansson writes in the preface to The Moomins and the Great Flood: 'Here was my very first happy ending!'
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Bradford gains special Cultural City of Sanctuary designation
Bradford has been named the first-ever Cultural City of Sanctuary. The special title, delivered by the Bradford Culture Company, is intended to reflect the role that people seeking sanctuary - refugees and asylum seekers, as well as people seeking other forms of protection - play in Bradford's culture. The accolade was announced at an event with Bradford Friendship Choir, many of whose singers are refugees and sanctuary seekers from countries in the Middle East, Africa, and elsewhere. The choir was a key part of the Bradford 2025 opening event, RISE, in January. Bradford 2025 has also announced a formal partnership with Stand & Be Counted, billed as the UK's first Theatre Company of Sanctuary. Planned initiatives include creation of routes into volunteering; distribution of tickets; weekly creative sessions for people seeking sanctuary; developing "creative engagement activity to work alongside Basel Zaraa's artwork inspired by The Moomins and the Great Flood"; and working with Displace Yourself Theatre on providing trauma-informed practice training for team members. Rhiannon Hannon, director of creative engagement at Bradford 2025, said: "Our ambition for the City of Culture is not just to celebrate Bradford's creativity but also to ensure that people seeking sanctuary have equal access to the programme's opportunities, and this designation highlights that. "Furthermore, we are pleased to partner with Stand & Be Counted, who bring expertise in working with people seeking sanctuary and can guide us in making sure the year's programme and activities are a truly inclusive celebration of our district." Rosie MacPherson, artistic director and joint CEO of Stand & Be Counted, added: "We're so thrilled that Bradford will be the first Cultural City of Sanctuary. "It's an important moment to stand with people seeking sanctuary, and it's a great symbol of positivity and welcome. "Stand & Be Counted have been working in Bradford for many years, and we know this milestone and work across lots of incredible organisations will have a huge impact on people seeking sanctuary being seen, supported, and involved in all of the incredible productions and programmes in Bradford across 2025 and beyond." With the announcement of Bradford's status as Cultural City of Sanctuary, Bradford 2025 has released a film which contains testimonials from groups including Bradford Friendship Choir, HALE (Health Action Local Engagement), and The Peace Museum; it is the first of a planned series of films spotlighting distinct aspects of Bradford culture and identity, to be released throughout the year.
