Wednesday, May 5, 2021 at 8pm Brussels/Cairo, 9pm Athens/Ramallah
What does it mean to become a mother if you work in the arts sector? For this conversation on our new publication, Why Call It Labor? On Motherhood and Art Work, at Kaaitheater in Brussels, historian and writer Alia Mossallam talks with some of the book contributors: Mophradat director Mai Abu ElDahab, filmmaker Mary Jirmanus Saba, and writer Mirene Arsanios.
The conversation will be punctuated by a performed reading by Rosaline Elbay of Lara Khaldi’s postpartum diary commissioned for the book.
Alia Mossallam is a cultural historian, writer, and pedagogue interested in intimate and lyrical expressions of the lesser known struggles behind pivotal moments in world history.
Mai Abu ElDahab is a contemporary art curator from Cairo, living in Brussels since 2007, and the director of Mophradat since 2014. She has edited and co-edited many publications including Why Call It Labor? On Motherhood and Art Work.
Mary Jirmanus Saba is a filmmaker and geographer. From 2006 to 2008, she produced the weekly community broadcast television program Via Comunidad with collective Vientos del Sur in Ibarra, Ecuador.
Mirene Arsanios is the author of the short story collection, The City Outside the Sentence (Ashkal Alwan, 2015). She has contributed to many other essay and short story collections.