What is it that draws you to a certain photo, and what is it that you recognize? Why is it so unsettling and reassuring at the same time?

This creative writing workshop invites artists and writers to linger and lurk in the unsettled space between recognition and estrangement, inspired by Raeda Saadeh’s performance-based photography works, and the uncanny intimacy of seeing oneself in a stranger’s image. Drawing from the emotional terrain of collapse, endurance, and resistance and the ambiguity of watching, participants will sit with moments where meaning falters – what might surface instead? Raw, unplanned, and involuntarily revealing? 

Through guided writing exercises, readings and group reflections, participants will engage with the act of looking and being looked at, asking what it means to “go on” when nothing feels resolved. Over the course of two months, online and in-person sessions will be held where participants will be writing letters responding to the works of Raeda Saadeh. Selected pieces will be part of a performance to be held at Darat al Funun in September.

The workshop is in English and Arabic.
Attendance at all sessions is mandatory.

Workshop schedule:

May:
First session, in-person: Wednesday 14 May 2025, 4:30-7 PM
Second session, online: Tuesday 20 May 2025, 4-5:30 PM
Third session, online: Wednesday 21 May 2025, 4-5:30 PM
Fourth session, online: Wednesday 28 May 2025, 5-7 PM

June: Individual online sessions will be held during the month of June in coordination with each participant.

July: 3 group online sessions will be held during the month of July in coordination with the participants.

Applications are now closed.

Image: Raeda Saadeh, Ladder, 2013

Hanna Al Taher is a recipient of the 2023-2024 Darat al Funun Dissertation fellowship. Hanna is a lecturer in political theory, a writer, and researcher.