Six artists have been invited to participate in this year’s Grants for Artists’ Practice program, following the open call launched in July. The program received over 340 applications, and the process was advised by Mohamed Abdelkarim (visual artist & performer, Rotterdam/Cairo) and Yasmine Eid Sabbagh (photographer & researcher, Dakar/Beirut) with the participation of Dina Mimi (visual artist & filmmaker, Amsterdam/Jerusalem). The participating artists are:
Abdo Shanan (b. 1982, Algeria) is a photographer whose work is anchored by an urgent need to capture the reality of his generation in Algeria. His practice offers narrative counterpoints reasserting agency over a visual history predominantly written by colonial powers and news images that reduce Algeria to a series of crises.
Doua Fatfat (b. 1989, Lebanon/Egypt) is a Cairo-based dance performer who grew up in Lebanon. In her practice, she investigates rigid binaries and how they can be disrupted and reconfigured beyond normative structures. She researches media representations of performative gestures and performance with a focus on pop culture of film, TV, and theater.
Farah Hallaba (b. 1996, Egypt) is a Cairo-based researcher and programmer. In her practice, she explores the intersections between visual and collaborative anthropology and curatorial practices.
Jana Khoury (b. 1997, Lebanon) is a Beirut-based photographer and filmmaker, and is also an archivist in training. Gardening and planting constitute a new conceptual backbone to her practice, unfolding as a subjective and intimate act of resistance to violence.
Mousa Nazzal (b. 1996, Palestine) is a Ramallah-based actor, theatre practitioner, and medical care clown. His practice explores text and performativity in devised theatre. Through a series of collective workshops, his research will focus on the methodologies, techniques, and aesthetics of collective creation.
Ruba Alfaraouna (b. 1995, Palestine) is a Bedouin artist from southern Palestine based in occupied Jerusalem. Through visual art, photography, and fashion, she attempts to redefine Bedouin culture and history as well as documenting the lives of women in a Bedouin society.