ON BLUE MOUNTAIN // SALEM AL SALEM

On the mountain, God will save you. Put the pieces back together. - lyrics by foxygen

UNTITLED // NOURA ALZUABI & AALA SHARFI

(after aja monet)

I know the ocean is blue because of the way it reflects light
I know that 60% of the human body is made of water
which can only mean that we all carry oceans inside of us.

I know that the anatomy of a person doesn't define them
I know that softness doesn't equate weakness
and being feminine doesn't mean you're any less.

I know bee colonies have a unique odour recognisable
only to members of that hive.
I know that's what home is like
I know I haven't been there in 3 year
and it could be a couple more before I even consider going.

I know the grass isn't always greener on the other side
but that has never stopped me jumping fences trying to get there.

I know my tongue has been colonised by a language that
didn't bother seeing my native one as anything less than barbaric.
I know I have done little to stop it since.

I know how easy it is to hold on to anger
How I spent 20 years believing I hated my father
only to realise that sometimes forgiveness is the
hardest thing to give away.

I know my heart is the same size as my fist
but I am still trying to figure out if that is a metaphor
for flight or fight.

***
text // noura alzuabi
art // aala sharfi

روابط

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ART: REEM GHAMDI

UNPOLISHED // NOORAH KAREEM

قُلْ كُلٌّ يَعْمَلُ عَلَىٰ شَاكِلَتِهِ فَرَبُّكُمْ أَعْلَمُ بِمَنْ هُوَ أَهْدَىٰ سَبِيلًا

A few months ago I came across the meaning of the aya “Say everyone should work according to the form that they were created in”

It stuck with me. In these paintings I tried studying different types of characters. Sometimes I’d begin with my eyes closed. I’d be making random marks and forms on a sticky note, then I’d open my eyes and use whatever lines and shapes I had, to create a person. Imitating how we were all born with characteristics (forms) and we are to work and live according to them.

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TAWSEET AL SHARQ #1: GEORGE AWDE

George Awde’s photographs of male Arab bodies examine the crossover of traditional notions of masculinity and family with the private spaces they occupy that act as an outlet of modern male love, bonding and self-identity.

The semi nude bodies defeat the audience’s motives of seeking a definitive Arab male masculinity and probe them to seek the intimacy portrayed in each of the Arab men photographed. The bare skin of the subjects each filled in its own way with tones, scars, tattoos, and freckles place each man in a different paradigm and displaces any attempts of classifying their sexuality or masculinity. It instead invites the audience into the personal spheres of intimacy of each subject to show the unrestricted definition of Arab masculinity and male interaction.

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george awde // portfolio 
nadim choufi // twitter & tumblr

ABANDONED MEMORIES #1 // REEMA MOTIB

In a Brooklyn garage sale there was a pile of photographs. A huge pile, could have easily amounted to 2000 photographs. I picked up a few and while I was paying for them I asked the guy who works there where they get them from. He told me that they buy them off people who don't think the photos are worth keeping, he find them in abandoned storage units and in estate sales. 

He later went on about how they're actually very valuable because they're single copies and rarely, but sometimes, may hold some unknown historical significance. I paid two dollars for seven photographs.

So, I took a few home and as I was painting on them, I realized that these were really symbolic moments in people's lives. Graduations, parties, weddings and I know nothing about these people but it made me sort of sad to realize that someone (or they themselves) decided that these moments were meaningless or at least not meaningful enough to keep.

It may be a very ambitious idea, but it's the process of attempting to restore significance to a dead or abandoned memory. 

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Editor's note: If you'd like to participate in Reema's project, please contact us jaffatelaqlam@gmail.com for details. Reema is looking for old photographs. Abandoned or personal photographs are very much welcomed.