The participants of the 2022 Summer Academy will discuss this year’s program and the development process of their projects, currently exhibited as part of the open studios.
The summer academy 2022 program focused on investigative and research-based practices, unfolding in four chapters; cities, archives, archaeology, and ecology, each of which is considered a repository of information and knowledge for what we deem earth memory.
Participants: Deema Dabis, Hanna Al Taher, Lina Asa'ad, Sama Shahrouri, Sarah Risheq, Sara Sukhun, and Tasneem Zraikat.
The discussion will be in Arabic.
Deema Dabis is a filmmaker, storyteller, and nature dweller with a big love for plants and food. She is inspired by the native wild landscape, indigenous practices, folk foods and remedies, the elders who still hold this wisdom, and the stories and connections that surround these things. As a food lover, being in the kitchen, and experimenting with flavors and ingredients, especially those based on landscapes, is very exciting for Dabis. As a filmmaker, She is fascinated by the fact that every meal, every plant, tells a story, many stories to be specific. Dabis loves the exploration of those stories, how they interweave, what they tell us about our world, and how they might help us reimagine our realities.
Hanna Al Taher is a researcher and writer, and a lecturer in political theory.
Lina Asa'ad is a Political Science student and collage artist based in Amman, Jordan. She uses visual communication arts as a form of self-expression to bring up awareness and shed light on queer sexuality, society-related issues, and gender expression alongside other taboo topics in the Arab community. She works using multiple mediums such as collage art, film photography, and videography to finalize a personal visual story.
Sama Shahrouri is an Amman-based multidisciplinary maker. She majored in sculpture and has been working as an educator and cultural practitioner since 2016. Shahrouri's artistic engagements include co-founding the Remote Closeness art collective, participating in Amman Design Week 2019, and co-founding an online magazine focusing on SWANA art in 2018.
Sarah Risheq is an Amman-based writer, editor, and storyteller/gatherer. Currently, She is interested in the intersections and interconnectedness between body, memory, forgetfulness, liberation, fugitivity, land, the archive, and futurisms. Sarah enjoys formulating questions that allow her to build worlds and burn others. Especially questions that allow her to widen her sensibilities and expand her imagination; what is possible.
Sara Sukhun is a designer and researcher with a BFA from the American University of Beirut (AUB) and an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). She has worked with the Art Institute of Chicago, the Chicago Parks District, and the Palestinian Museum. She has held a fellowship position at Spudnik Press in Chicago and is currently a resident at the MMAG foundation in Amman. She is the recipient of a New Artist’s Society Award from SAIC and the First Prize Areen Projects Award for Excellence in Graphic Design from AUB.
Tasneem Zraikat is a Jordanian architect and artist. She attained an undergraduate degree in Fine Arts before pursuing a Master’s Degree in Architecture and Construction Management at Washington University in Saint Louis. She has worked as a designer in New York, Washington DC, and Jordan. She has studied vernacular construction and classical architecture and is currently researching traditional architectural languages and materiality in Jordan. Her research involves hands-on material explorations with clay and other local materials.