“While Anglophone publishing is intensely concerned with comparative titles and where a novel fits into the landscape, contemporary Arabic publishing largely is not. As such, there is no fixed terminology used for cli fi (climate fiction) in Arabic—though there is fiction that looks much like cli fi in English.”
— Speculative Climate Futures in Arabic Literature
Personally, I think genre is bullshit and one of Western civilization's most detrimental inventions for culture at large.
Great article in the Houston Chronicle today by Dominic Boyer, on the importance of creating “new memories of the future”.
Humbled to see THE SOLAR GRID featured alongside the work of architect Albert Pope and design Ilse Harrison.
Egyptian Streets recorded a podcast with me a while back, which just went live yesterday. Give it a listen if you don't mind a ton of “umms” and the way I click my tongue.
This coming Saturday, ArteEast is hosting a virtual discussion on Zoom between Bassem Yousri and myself, moderated by Lara Baladi.
Should be fun!
The Manhattanville College event for Saturday has unfortunately and very suddenly been cancelled. But, in other news, a new editorial by Rawaa Talass has gone up on Artsy: 10 Middle Eastern Artists to Discover
Although I have been living a few thousand miles from anywhere remotely close to the Middle East for quite a long time now, I am humbled and honored to be included alongside such incredible artists. I mean c'mon, Ahmed Mater? Nicky Nodjoumi! Ruba Salameh! Every one of the artists named on that list makes such powerful and incredible work, and literally any one item from their output would instantly upgrade any museum's collection.
Humbled and thankful.
Had the pleasure of chatting with Ryan Harvey for HOPE DIES LAST, his fantastic podcast on the intersection between art and protest in the face of injustice and authoritarianism.
The Art Newspaper surveyed a few art practitioners on the Arab Spring's legacy on art. Click, read, and cringe.
Deutsche Welle also did a story on the influence of Egypt's revolutionary street art some ten years ago.
On a completely different note, Pea Protein is a major migraine trigger apparently. 🙂🔫
(Above image from sometime in 2012.)
Quick proof-of-life post to acknowledge my extended absence from blogging, and repent and make promises to return to daily posts even if I have to keep them super micro.
Hectic time, drawing pages for the 6th Chapter of THE SOLAR GRID as well as providing art for multiple music projects and activism campaigns alongside a number of podcast recordings. Not to mention administrative stuff and planning for future projects.
Let us not discuss the newborn.
On podcasts, here are links to my interview(s) with the CAIRO IN EXILE podcast, for which we recorded one in Arabic and one in English.
Aight, back to work.
“The line between subject and object blurs in Colla and Ganzeer's clever illustrated chapbook, a narrative formed by prose poems.”
What a lovely review for our unusual little chapbook in Publisher's Weekly.
