ARTICLES

MINEM SEZGIN, No Seat at the Table

In her iconic illustration ‘Baba, I want a Birkin,’ Alaa Balkhy seamlessly weaves local and pop culture. The Jeddah and New York-based serial entrepreneur has achieved massive success as a leading Saudi Cultural Consultant, Art Director, Illustrator and Fashion Designer.  As someone who notoriously encourages her hundred thousand followers to go vintage, local and sustainable, we gain insight into what inspires her during the creative process and what it really means to positively contribute.

“Make sure you have a good bawab.” A sentence often heard in Egypt when looking for an apartment to live in. From a western perspective it’s a rather strange saying. How can the doorman have such an influence on the lives of the residents?

In his image The hand (1991), Lebanese photographer Fouad El Khoury draws his audience into an apocalyptic, post-civil war vision of Martyrs’ Square, once Beirut’s premier landmark and meeting place.

Up until the late 1950’s, Pierre Berjole was the director of the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Tunisia, a legacy from the French Colonial period.

Street walls are the uncensored depictions of us, they are like clear boards portraying our aspirations and objections. Everything is real on the street walls, designs, dreams and slogans. These surfaces  are the only hope left for the artist whose expression goes beyond the delamination and space of a canvas. 

Capernaum is a 2018 Lebanese drama film directed by Nadine Labaki and produced by Khaled Mouzanar gives a touching and realistic perception of life in the streets of Beirut.

During the French colonial occupation of Algeria, a new type of sound was born in the poorer surrounding neighborhoods. Raï, as it came to be called, grew out of the bubbling nightlife where people from various backgrounds crossed paths.

Arabs are the founders of intense and often self-destructive expression. You’ll find that Arab poets effortlessly and intensely evoke love and revolution, creating timeless art. The poems below serve as a humble archive of passion. In them, I hope you find yourself inspired.