Volume 11 - Number 1 December 2014 – January 2015 £4

TTHISHIS ISSUEISSUE: CCONTEMPORARYONTEMPORARY ARTART ● TThehe visualvisual languagelanguage ofof dissentdissent ● UUn-representablen-representable narrativesnarratives andand contemporarycontemporary amnesiaamnesia ● WWaysays ooff sseeingeeing ● AArabrab animatedanimated ccartoons,artoons, thenthen andand nownow ● PPhotohoto competitioncompetition resultsresults ● PPLUSLUS RReviewseviews andand eventsevents inin LondonLondon Volume 11 - Number 1 DecemberDe 2014 – January 2015 £4

TTHISHIS ISSUEISSUE: CCONTEMPORARYONTEMPORARY AARTRT ● TThehe vvisualisual languagelanguage ofof dissentdissent ● UUn-representablen-representable narrativesnarratives andand contemporarycontemporary amnesiaamnesia ● WWaysays ofof sseeingeeing ● AArabrab animatedanimated ccartoons,artoons, thenthen andand nownow ● PPhotohoto ccompetitionompetition resultsresults ● PPLUSLUS RReviewseviews aandnd eeventsvents inin LondonLondon

Samira Alikhanzadeh, Untitled, 2011 About the Institute (LMEI)

Volume 11 - Number 1 Th e London Middle East Institute (LMEI) draws upon the resources of London and SOAS to provide December 2014 – teaching, training, research, publication, consultancy, outreach and other services related to the Middle January 2015 East. It serves as a neutral forum for Middle East studies broadly defi ned and helps to create links between individuals and institutions with academic, commercial, diplomatic, media or other specialisations. With its own professional staff of Middle East experts, the LMEI is further strengthened by its academic Editorial Board membership – the largest concentration of Middle East expertise in any institution in Europe. Th e LMEI also Professor Nadje Al-Ali SOAS has access to the SOAS Library, which houses over 150,000 volumes dealing with all aspects of the Middle East. LMEI’s Advisory Council is the driving force behind the Institute’s fundraising programme, for which Dr Hadi Enayat AKU it takes primary responsibility. It seeks support for the LMEI generally and for specifi c components of its Ms Narguess Farzad programme of activities. SOAS Mrs Nevsal Hughes Association of European Journalists Dr George Joff é Mission Statement: Cambridge University Mr Barnaby Rogerson Th e aim of the LMEI, through education and research, is to promote knowledge of all aspects of the Middle Ms Sarah Searight East including its complexities, problems, achievements and assets, both among the general public and with British Foundation for the Study of Arabia those who have a special interest in the region. In this task it builds on two essential assets. First, it is based in Dr Kathryn Spellman-Poots London, a city which has unrivalled contemporary and historical connections and communications with the AKU and LMEI Middle East including political, social, cultural, commercial and educational aspects. Secondly, the LMEI is Dr Sarah Stewart at SOAS, the only tertiary educational institution in the world whose explicit purpose is to provide education SOAS and scholarship on the whole Middle East from prehistory until today. Mrs Ionis Th ompson Saudi-British Society and BFSA Dr Shelagh Weir SOAS LMEI Staff: Professor Sami Zubaida Birkbeck College Director Dr Hassan Hakimian Coordinating Editor Executive Offi cer Louise Hosking Megan Wang Events and Magazine Coordinator Vincenzo Paci Listings Administrative Assistant Valentina Zanardi Vincenzo Paci Designer Shahla Geramipour Disclaimer: Letters to the Editor:

Th e Middle East in London is published fi ve times a year by the London Middle Opinions and views expressed in the Middle East Please send your letters to the editor at East Institute at SOAS in London are, unless otherwise stated, personal the LMEI address provided (see left panel) views of authors and do not refl ect the views of their or email [email protected] Publisher and organisations nor those of the LMEI and the MEL's Editorial Offi ce Editorial Board. Although all advertising in the Th e London Middle East Institute SOAS magazine is carefully vetted prior to publication, the University of London MBI Al Jaber Building, 21 Russell LMEI does not accept responsibility for the accuracy Square, London WC1B 5EA of claims made by advertisers. T: +44 (0)20 7898 4490 SSubscriptions:ubscriptions: F: +44 (0)20 7898 4329 E: [email protected] www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/ To subscribe to Th e Middle East in London, please visit: ISSN 1743-7598 www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/affi liation/ Contents

LMEI Board of Trustees 4 17 Professor Paul Webley (Chair) Director, SOAS EDITORIAL BOOKS Professor Richard Black, SOAS Th e Political Aesthetics of Dr John Curtis Iran Heritage Foundation 5 Global Protest: the Sir Vincent Fean INSIGHT and Beyond Professor Ben Fortna, SOAS Th e visual language of dissent Charles Tripp Mr Alan Jenkins Megan Wang Dr Karima Laachir, SOAS 18 Dr Dina Matar, SOAS 7 God’s Zoo: Artists, Exiles, Dr Barbara Zollner Birkbeck College CONTEMPORARY ART Londoners Un-representable narratives Barnaby Rogerson and contemporary amnesia: LMEI Advisory Council Soheila Sokhanvari 20 Lady Barbara Judge (Chair) Professor A. S. Abdel Haleem Janet Rady and Lisa Pollman Practising Diplomacy in the Near and Middle East Department, SOAS Mamluk Sultanate: Gift s Mr Stephen Ball KPMG 9 and Material Culture in the H E Khalid Al-Duwaisan GVCO Ways of seeing: traces of the Medieval Islamic World Ambassador, Embassy of the State of Kuwait Mrs Haifa Al Kaylani disappeared Hugh Kennedy Arab International Women’s Forum Nadje Al-Ali Dr Khalid Bin Mohammed Al Khalifa President, University College of Bahrain 21 Professor Tony Allan 11 BOOKS IN BRIEF King’s College and SOAS Dr Alanoud Alsharekh Drawing politics: Arab Senior Fellow for Regional Politics, IISS animated cartoons, then 23 Mr Farad Azima NetScientifi c Plc and now PROFILE Dr Noel Brehony Omar Anna Contadini MENAS Associates Ltd. Professor Magdy Ishak Hanna British Egyptian Society 13 24 HE Mr Mazen Kemal Homoud Ambassador, Embassy of the Hashemite Photo competition results Mostafa Dashti Kingdom of 15 25 Founding Patron and REVIEWS EVENTS IN LONDON Donor of the LMEI EXHIBITIONS Sheikh Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber MBI Al Jaber Foundation Poetry & exile Venetia Porter

December 2014 – January 2015 The Middle East in London 3 EEDITORIALDITORIAL © Reza Derakshani

DDearear RReadereader

Reza Derakshani, Shirin & Khosrow, 2009. Oil on canvas. 150 x 180cm

Kathryn Spellman-Poots, Nadje Al-Ali, MEL Editorial Board

ondon is renowned for being a global artist. Using crude oil and humorous throughout the region, Sayfo demonstrates centre for cultural production and narratives, Sokhanvari’s provocative work how animation production has become Lcommerce, and Middle Eastern artists, engages with serious issues such as national integrated into national policies and used to living in the diaspora and from the region identity, the environment and global propagate political agendas. itself, have long been making the most of politics. Conversely, this issue also explores how its creative industries. Th e articles in this Th e Iraqi artist, Jananne Al-Ani, in ordinary people, from all walks of life, have issue present a few of these artists and conversation with Nadje Al-Ali, looks been imaginatively utilising a wide range explore some of the complex sources that critically at the way people look at of aesthetics – music, poetry, humour lie behind their cultural productions. Exile images. Th rough her work on the body and even everyday objects – as powerful and dislocation, East–West connections and she confronts clichéd representations of tools to rally people together, challenge misunderstandings, and turbulent politics, veiled women and attempts to alter the authority and make demands for change. are to name a few examples of conditions relationship between the viewer and the Drawing from examples in Turkey, that continue to motivate and shape the viewed. Her most recent works endeavour and , Megan Wang’s Insight piece creative process. to make connections between Middle demonstrates how objects such gas masks, Venetia Porter, surveying the exhibition Eastern and American landscapes, both playing cards, and national fl ags have been Poetry & exile at the British Museum, literally and metaphorically. Investigating re-appropriated as subversive symbols by highlights a number of artists and explains East–West connections is also a central activists to disrupt the status quo. Charles how painful personal stories, poetry, and theme in this issue’s Profi le piece, Tripp’s review of the book Th e Political the histories of the region are drawn upon featuring Anna Contadini, Professor of Aesthetics of Global Protest: the Arab in various and complex ways in their work. the History of Islamic Art. Indeed, her Spring and Beyond highlights how images, Th e ‘in-betweenness’ of the exile condition research concentrates on the exchanges performances, and caricatures become is oft en described as an unrestricted space and interpretations of Middle Eastern and important oppositional spaces for thinking for artists to negotiate and express emotions European arts across cultural boundaries. against power and authority. and aspirations. Acknowledging the In a diff erent vein, Omar Sayfo examines Finally, it is fi tting to announce in this ambivalence of living in exile, Janet Rady the evolution of Arab animation and the issue the winners of the 2014 MEL photo and Lisa Pollman’s piece on the Iranian ongoing attempts for countries to provide competition. Many congratulations! visual artist Soheila Sokhanvari stresses alternatives to Walt Disney and other global the freedom that can be gained as an exilic animation giants. Drawing on examples

4 The Middle East in London December 2014 – January 2015 IINSIGHTNSIGHT

Megan Wang talks about the aesthetics of protest, drawing on the creative works of social movements from the Middle East to the US

TThehe vvisualisual llanguageanguage ooff ddissentissent

Yemeni woman in traditional dress in Change Square with the Yemeni fl ag drawn on her hand and ‘no immunity for traitors’ written on her palm. Photograph by Z. Alkulaibi. The photo appears in The Political Aesthetics of Global Protest: the Arab Spring and Beyond (Edinburgh University Press, 2014)

ow to make a gas mask? You will Everyday objects, when employed mundane, non-violent and everyday nature need: a marker, a large plastic bottle, creatively, can become powerful weapons of of these repurposed, ‘disobedient objects’ Ha box cutter, a length of foam or subversion – practically and symbolically. is empowering: every individual has access some soft fabric, a surgical mask and some According to Crispin Sartwell ‘all politics is to them and in them lies the means for glue. Hold the bottle up to your face and, aesthetic; at their heart political ideologies, opposition. Moreover, these objects have using the marker, draw a U-shape. Cut off systems and constitutions are aesthetic symbolic weight; they serve to make the the bottom of the bottle using your box systems, multimedia artistic environments’ violence and repression they were created cutter and then cut out the U-shape. Glue (Political Aesthetics, 2010). Th e political to guard against appear ridiculous in scale. the foam around the cut edges to protect aesthetics of grassroots social movements If all an individual has to protect himself is your face. Stuff a surgical mask in the top work to further their aims via a visual a plastic bottle and some vinegar, deploying of the bottle and use the elastics to secure language that targets the problem and tear gas and using riot shields seems like the mask to your face. Remember to carry inspires people to act. Aside from Gezi textbook overkill. vinegar to soak the surgical mask prior Park’s makeshift gas masks, demonstrators A key component of the strength of to donning your homemade gas mask in Syria modifi ed the bottoms of paper bags, these political aesthetics lies in their (Disobedient Objects, V&A Museum). allowing them to serve as graffi ti stencils. ability to subvert established defi nitions Demonstrators created these makeshift gas Th e repurposing of these objects acts as a and discourses and to disrupt the status masks during the 2013 Gezi Park protests in compelling visual statement: paper bags and quo. Generally, protest artwork and other . Since then they have been spotted plastic bottles are not items that one would paraphernalia, by their very nature, are acts as far away as Caracas, Venezuela, and traditionally use to oppose a government of subversion and mockery – they are not several instructional graphics detailing their with a police force and army that have a (necessarily) pieces of fi ne art produced construction can be found with a quick host of weapons at their disposal – tear by trained artists with access to quality Google search. gas, pepper spray, riot shields, guns. Th e materials and high-tech studios, and they are unlikely to be products designed and mass produced in factories. Instead they Everyday objects, when employed creatively, can become tend to be created under conditions of powerful weapons of subversion – practically and symbolically constraint and duress; access to resources

December 2014 – January 2015 The Middle East in London 5 is limited and, in some contexts, exposure In the context of grassroots movements, aesthetic objects or could very well mean imprisonment. Th us, their manufacturing is not an endeavour creations aid in renegotiating and reimagining the status quo, of privileged elites; it is a product of ‘the subverting traditional hierarchies by empowering ‘the people’ people’ for ‘the people’. Yet even with such constraints these pieces are not haphazardly Th us, in Libya we see examples of Qaddafi ’s individuals depicted less powerful and more chosen; they are thoughtful, aesthetic face being blacked out on the Libyan dinar human. Th ey are transformed from sources responses to changing circumstances that and graffi ti which eff eminises him. In of authority into sources of amusement. aim to embody the spirit and ethos of the Yemen and Tunisia protestors painted their While blacking out Qaddafi ’s face on the movements they represent. fl ag’s colours on their bodies, sometimes Libyan dinar may seem petty, the symbolic Subversion can take on other, more alongside powerful statements explicitly resonance cannot be denied: with one action direct forms as well. In 2003 when the expressing their grievances and demands. he has been rendered not only blind, but US invaded Iraq, the US military created Social movements and activism are faceless. a set of Personality Identifi cation playing dynamic processes that have the power to While varied in form and function, cards which contained the names, faces, transform individuals, processes in which objects created and employed by protest addresses and, sometimes, job titles of the idea of ‘the people’ is constantly being movements around the globe embody a the most-wanted individuals in Iraq. In renegotiated and redefi ned via a visual political aesthetic, oft en taking the form response, Noel Douglas designed the language – be it the site of the protest, of a visual language of dissent. Th ey Regime Change Begins at Home playing graffi ti, theatre, leafl et, prop or tool (Th e draw inspiration from the opposition cards during the height of the Anti-War Political Aesthetics of Global Protest: the and an existing repertoire of protest, of Movement, depicting the ‘most unwanted’ Arab Spring and Beyond, AKU-ISMC). iconic imagery and symbolism, which members of the US government described Th us, donning a makeshift gas mask alters is then adapted to the local vernacular. as warmongers and profi teers. Th e cards the demonstrator’s appearance, signifying Visuals have always provided a means are humorous: they contain unfl attering his or her commitment to action. Th e for getting one’s message across, but images of the individuals, one of their more gas mask has improved his/her ability technological innovation has allowed for colourful quotes and, for George W. Bush, a to withstand tear gas, altering the power their cheap, eff ortless and near immediate nickname whose spelling seems to mock his dynamic between the demonstrator and dissemination to massive audiences, Texas accent – ‘Dubya’. the authorities. Th ose authorities can multiplying their value. In the context of Defacing currency, images of political no longer use tear gas as eff ectively as a grassroots movements, these aesthetic leaders or appropriating national fl ags are crowd-control tactic. Th e hidden stencils objects or creations aid in renegotiating other examples of this visual language of allow individuals to move freely and ‘tag’ and reimagining the status quo, subverting dissent. Th ese objects are oft en thought of strategic locations with the mark of the traditional hierarchies by empowering as national symbols: they are created, owned resistance, disseminating their message ‘the people’. More importantly, though, or generally mobilised by the government. widely and mocking the power’s inability they demonstrate that all that is required Painting over the national fl ag or drawing to catch them. Th e Regime Change Begins to activate the latent aesthetic power of on a country’s currency is a direct aesthetic at Home playing cards use humour to poke the seemingly mundane is a mixture of assault on government power and authority. fun at established offi cials, rendering the ingenuity and necessity.

Th is article was informed by the following exhibitions: Disobedient Objects at the V&A Museum in the Porter Gallery until 1 February 2015; Th e Aesthetics of Global Protest: the Arab Spring and Beyond at the Aga Khan University Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations (AKU-ISMC) and Goldsmiths College, University of London ended 6 and 23 November 2014 respectively.

Megan Wang is the Coordinating Editor for Th e Middle East in London. She has a Master’s degree in Muslim Cultures from AKU-ISMC

Eff eminising Qaddafi , Tripoli, Libya (February 2012). Photograph by Igor Cherstich, Anthropology Department, University College London

6 The Middle East in London December 2014 – January 2015 CCONTEMPORARYONTEMPORARY ARTART

Janet Rady and Lisa Pollman discuss the life and works of multimedia artist Soheila Sokhanvari © Soheila Sokhanvari UUn-representablen-representable nnarrativesarratives aandnd ccontemporaryontemporary aamnesia:mnesia: SSoheilaoheila SSokhanvariokhanvari

Soheila Sokhanvari, Shahrzad the Storyteller, 2013. Mixed media on vellum. 30.5 X 23cm

ailing from Iran, visual artist alchemy behind grinding and mixing her a medium. Sokhanvari fi rst included it in Soheila Sokhanvari creates pieces own colours and uses precious materials her artwork in 2009 when she began her Hthat boldly take on issues such as such as crude oil, lapis lazuli, malachite studies at Goldsmiths College. Her crude oil national identity and political events that and 22ct gold in her pieces in addition to paintings depict a gentleness and timeless shape contemporary life in the 21st century working with egg tempera. For her ‘Hoochie intimacy, much like sepia-tone photographs: with bizarre, humorous and mysterious Coochie Man’ series, she harnesses these ‘Crude oil is a very versatile material. It is as narratives. She deft ly works with a variety costly materials to create sublime geometric stable and permanent as ink (being carbon of visual media and materials designed tessellations oft en represented in traditional based) and dries instantly unlike oil. It is to encourage audience participation and Middle Eastern art and architecture. plastic and moody: how it behaves depends refl ection. Some of her series include Sokhanvari enjoys shopping for pigments upon temperature and humidity and I never reworked passports, contemporised at an establishment based in Venice that know how a drawing will turn out. I always miniature paintings, delicate crude oil has served artists for hundreds of years. For say when we fi rst met we were enemies but works, thought-provoking installations and the artist, the timelessness of egg tempera now we are friends.’ carpet paintings. acts as a perfect foil for the fast-paced, Sokhanvari fi nds the medium suitable due Sokhanvari was born in Shiraz, the troubled present: ‘Like Grayson Perry, I am to its political, economic and environmental birthplace of poets Hafez and Saadi. In interested in using an ancient technique narrative and employs it for its veiled the so-called ‘City of Gardens’, Sokhanvari that is associated with craft , decoration political value. To some in the Middle East, learned the intricacies of miniature painting and a medieval language to speak about crude oil is viewed as both a blessing and a alongside her father, who was a self- contemporary issues. Th ere is something curse: a commodity that has built dynasties taught miniature artist, model and fashion very performative with egg tempera and made or broken apart families, peoples designer. Instead of drawing in colouring because one becomes aware of the laborious and countries. books, Sokhanvari ground pigments, mixed process, which goes against our global fast- In a nod to tradition, Sokhanvari presents colours and painted rudimentary designs consuming culture.’ her work on calf vellum, a medieval staple as a child. It was during this time that An unusual material used by Sokhanvari for visual artists but also a chilling symbol Sokhanvari was introduced to egg tempera is crude oil, a major export product of of death and sacrifi ce. Referencing the calf technique, a process that fascinates her to Iran, which is surprisingly well suited as as the sacrifi cial animal in the Abrahamic this day and is represented in a large body of her work. Soheila Sokhanvari does not consider Sokhanvari, who earned her fi rst degree in Biochemistry, was naturally drawn to the herself strictly Persian but a ‘cultural collage’

December 2014 – January 2015 The Middle East in London 7 Each piece she completes is a chance to look at she should have more than enough material a particular event with completely fresh eyes to choose from. Sokhanvari earned a second Bachelor’s religions, she links this to the Iranian doing their own research at the installation degree (Fine Art) from the Anglia Ruskin ideological concept of martyrdom, thereby (via instructions opposite the artwork) and University, Cambridge (2005), a PgDip creating a notional palimpsest of the stories then interact with others at the installation. (Fine Art) from the Chelsea College of Art of the many exiled Iranians like herself. She explains, ‘When I was at Goldsmiths and Design (2006) and a Master of Fine Although originally from the region, she I was researching how to represent the Arts from Goldsmiths College, University does not consider herself strictly Persian un-representable. I studied about Joan Miró of London (2011). She has been long listed but a ‘cultural collage’ and has spent most of and how he titled his “abstract” paintings for the Global Art Aff airs Foundation’s her life abroad aft er leaving Iran to attend aft er Spanish Civil War events and how the Exhibition at the Venice Biennale 2015 and school in the UK at the age of ten. Th e idea “title” became a vehicle for the narrative also has a solo show scheduled in October of an artist living in exile and one who has or the message. He was a painter [who 2015 at the Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery in gained particular freedoms and advantages depicted history] very much like Goya but London. (as well as facing challenges) is not lost in a diff erent way… It was based on the on Sokhanvari. ‘Exile’, she says, ‘can be a above-mentioned idea of an object that can Janet Rady runs Janet Rady Fine Art, a creative space that allows a critical discourse stand in for something else.’ contemporary Middle Eastern art gallery at the juncture of opposing cultures; it For Sokhanvari, each piece she completes based in London. See www.janetradyfi neart. gives a voice and a distance that may not is a chance to look at a particular event with com; Lisa Pollman specialises in writing be possible from within the homeland… I completely fresh eyes. Th e challenge, then, is about Asian and Middle Eastern artists would like to stress that many exiles become to unwaveringly look at an event and ‘bring who boldly and unapologetically break new an insider-outsider, which means that you it back on the table’ for discussion. With ground with subject matter or techniques. See are neither, but you can reinvent yourself as the complexities and challenges of global more of her work at www.lisapollman.com an exile.’ politics, the economy and the environment, Sokhanvari seeks to connect her work with the audience, with a narrative that is © Soheila Sokhanvari oft en cleverly hidden in the background, to be patiently discovered and savoured. Modern-day traumas that have become woven into the very fabric of society yet forgotten are fl eshed out and presented in a completely diff erent format, oft en through the vehicle of humour or absurdity: ‘Humour brings out the absurdity of these events and makes it easier to deal with. My passport installations function fi rstly as found portraits that sit within the context of personal as well as national identity. It deals with experiences of an individual within a collective narrative of a nation; each stamp is a humorous hint at the politics of that country. One’s passport defi nes how they are treated and judged.’ An important component of Sokhanvari’s narrative are the titles of each work. Not content with labelling her works ‘untitled’, titles are sometimes chosen before a piece even begins. For her fi nal year piece at Goldsmiths in 2011, her sculpture Moje Sabz was an installation with an antique taxidermy horse astride a bright blue orb. Th e meaning behind that provocative sculpture? Iran’s Green Movement of 2009. An important component of this work was to provide an opportunity for the audience to connect with the piece by

Soheila Sokhanvari, Holy Trinity. Iranian crude oil on paper. 21 X 29.5cm

8 The Middle East in London December 2014 – January 2015 CCONTEMPORARYONTEMPORARY ARTART

Nadje Al-Ali speaks to Jananne Al-Ani about the inspiration behind her artwork and the diff erence between looking and seeing WWaysays ooff sseeing:eeing: ttracesraces ooff tthehe ddisappearedisappeared

Jananne Al-Ani, A Loving Man, 1996/9. 15 Minutes. Five channel video installation. Courtesy of the artist

ananne Al-Ani, born in Kirkuk, Iraq, is read when it was made, and how do we read photographic portrait: the women were shot a multi-media artist with a longstanding it now? What happens to an image when it in the studio against a neutral backdrop, the Jinterest in the power of testimony and is fi ltered through a diff erent lens once it is camera at a fi xed angle. Th e fi lms appear to the documentary tradition as well as the in circulation? be personal and intimate; there is a narrative history of Orientalist representation of the Photography is so malleable and it implied in these works. But what I was Middle East. Nadje Al-Ali interviewed works in so many diff erent spheres: really interested in was exploring how to use Jananne Al-Ani in her south London home. anthropology, medicine, art. It is powerful that format to undermine what is expected precisely because we think we are looking from a documentary. What happens when Your work appears to have changed quite at something real More specifi cally, I have we interview someone for 2 hours and what dramatically over the years. Is there a been interested in the relationship between ends up in the fi lm is a 2-minute clip? It is main thread or motivation that inspires reality and fantasy when looking at historic not necessarily an accurate account of what your artwork? and contemporary photographs of the has been said. Th e voice of the protagonist is Middle East. highly modifi ed. I was thinking a lot about I am interested in how we look at images In the 1990s, I made a number of the controlling hand of the editor or the and the way we understand them. How works that were video installations and fi lmmaker, in terms of representation. might we look at a 19th-century photograph featured women talking. Th e idea of the of a Middle Eastern woman in a costume ‘talking head’ comes from documentary How do you feel about people standing in a studio? How was that image fi lmmaking, and it relates to the interpreting your work to be about identity, or autobiographical rather than As artists we put our work out in the world and we cannot problematising representation? control its reception. Sadly, most people don’t look very carefully As artists we put our work out in the world

December 2014 – January 2015 The Middle East in London 9 and we cannot control its reception. Sadly, Part of the appeal of using the dual technologies of fl ight and most people don’t look very carefully, and that is part of what I am trying to address. photography lay in the possibility of the landscape itself becoming Th ere is a diff erence between looking and the bearer of particularly resilient and recurring memories seeing. Th e photographic work I made in the 1990s, which focused on the veil, has oft en been interpreted to be about the centre of the work I made about the veil photographs. One of the most signifi cant identity. But for me, the whole point of and is also very much at the heart of my outcomes of this research was the revelation engaging with the veil was to disrupt its photographs and video installations based that the discipline of aerial archaeology iconography. I wanted to confront the on remote, long-distance aerial footage had developed as a direct result of aerial clichés of veiled women being represented of the Middle Eastern landscape and the operations carried out in the course of the either as highly sexualised and exoticised or deserts of the American Southwest. First and Second World Wars. Pilots fl ying as downtrodden and oppressed. I discovered In the words of Paul Virilio, the 1991 military sorties were discovering previously the book Th e Colonial Harem in which the Gulf War was the fi rst ‘total electronic war’ unknown archaeological sites. Such ‘shadow French-Algerian theorist Malek Alloula broadcast live via satellite and providing sites’ appeared only at sunrise and sunset, examined postcards of Algerian women the world with an aerial view of the confl ict when lengthening shadows made visible produced during the French occupation. He that was to become the abiding image of otherwise unseen traces on the ground. compared the gaze of the veiled woman with modern warfare. For me, the most striking Th e Aesthetics project includes the large- that of the photographer. eff ect of this cartographic perspective was scale fi lms Shadow Sites I and Shadow Sites I became interested in the challenge of the ‘disappearing’ civilian populations on II, which were both shot from the air in the how to represent this radical interpretation the ground which echoed the 19th-century Middle East. More recently I completed of the gaze by creating a third space Orientalist fantasy of the desert as an empty, Groundworks: fi ve small fi lms that focus on in which to consider the relationship unoccupied space. the American Southwest. Together they link between the viewer and the viewed. In In 2007 I began to produce a new body signs of ancient and contemporary activities my photographs I attempted to alter this of photographic and moving image work, in the landscape and pull the American relationship so that the veiled woman could which explores the disappearance of the and Middle Eastern territories closer occupy an empowered position, one in body in a range of contested and highly together, both literally and metaphorically. which she could see without being seen. charged landscapes by examining what For me, part of the appeal of using the dual Of course all this changed aft er 9/11 and happens to the evidence of violence and technologies of fl ight and photography the rise of militant Islam. Images of veiled how it aff ects our understanding of the lay in the possibility of the landscape itself women actively engaged in combat have fed oft en-beautiful landscapes into which the becoming the bearer of particularly resilient a new and monstrous myth about the veil bodies of victims disappear. and recurring memories by exposing signs in which the bodies of Muslim women are In recent years, the increased on the surface, not only of loss but also of something to be feared. sophistication of drones became the new survival. focus in terms of advances in military Can you us about your more technology. However, I wanted to go back Stills from the fi lm Shadow Sites II will recent body of work Th e Aesthetics of to the early 20th century and investigate be on display in the exhibition Shangri Disappearance: A Land Without People? the circumstances that fi rst brought the La: Imagined Cities at the Los Angeles technologies of photography and fl ight Municipal Art Gallery until 28 December. Th e link between looking and power together. In developing the work I visited Th e show is curated by Rijin Sahakian, remains a preoccupation in my recent work. a range of archives and found some of director of Sada, a not-for-profi t project Covering and uncovering the body was at the earliest known aerial reconnaissance supporting new and emerging arts practices in Iraq through education initiatives and public programs (http://sadairaq.org)

Nadje Al-Ali is a member of the Editorial Board and a Professor of Gender Studies at SOAS

Jananne Al-Ani, still from Shadow Sites II, 2011. Single channel digital video. Courtesy of the artist and Abraaj Capital Art Prize

10 The Middle East in London December 2014 – January 2015 CCONTEMPORARYONTEMPORARY ARTART

Omar Sayfo traces the development and aims of Arab animated productions from the 1930s to the present DDrawingrawing ppolitics:olitics: AArabrab aanimatednimated ccartoons,artoons, tthenhen aandnd nnowow

'The Princess and the River', an Iraqi fi lm that debuted during the Iran–Iraq war

ince their early emergence in the 1930s, the Ministry of War sponsored a 15-minute Th e establishment of the fi rst Arab CGI Arab animated productions have been propagandistic episode aimed at supporting animation studio in 1988 in Egypt was a Slargely driven by the desire to create the loan the Egyptian government provided milestone in the history of Arab animation. culturally relevant works and to provide an to the army. In March 1940, Mish Mish Th e founder, Mona Abul-Nasr, a member alternative to the animations of global giants Eff endi donned a military uniform and of the local academic elite who also had like Walt Disney, widely popular amongst marched across the screen, chanting links to the President, gained both fi nancial Arab audiences. As producing celluloid and, patriotic slogans and defeating the enemy. support and commissions from the later, computer-generated (CGI) animation Animation as a tool for war propaganda Egyptian state-run channel. Th e fi rst series was an expensive and labour-intensive was also recognised by Saddam Hussein. of Bakkar, the Nubian boy, debuted in 1998. process, it remained the privilege of elites Al-Amirah wal-Nahr (Th e Princess and the Breaking with the habit of Egyptian cinema well integrated into national political and River) debuted under the shadow of the in representing Nubians as distinct, funny media hierarchies. As such, animation Iran–Iraq war in 1982. Th e one-million- and downright simple-minded people, production in the became a dollar feature-length production – that also Bakkar portrayed the Upper Egyptian legitimate target of well-defi ned cultural involved Western professionals – told the community as an integral part of the nation, policies and, also, of political propaganda. epic story of the Sumerian princess Sunani, thus strengthening the Egyptian national Th e fi rst short celluloid fi lms were who won the throne due to her courage, narrative promoted by . produced in the workshop of the Frenkel honesty and love for her people, and then Th e introduction of 3D computer Brothers, the three sons of Russian-Jewish united the divided people of the Land of the animation and the proliferation of satellite immigrants to Alexandria. By the late 1930s, Two Rivers in order to face Eiran, the most channels in the mid-1990s resulted in a the character of Mish Mish Eff endi – a evil of enemies. growth in both the quality and the quantity funny soul who wore a tarbush and was oft en embroiled in all sorts of adventures Th e fi lms and series with the largest budgets and with his friend, Fayyoumi, and Bahia, his Betty Boop-like lover – gained popularity widest publicity were oft en vehicles for the mediation in Egyptian cinemas. During World War II, of particular political and religious agendas

December 2014 – January 2015 The Middle East in London 11 Modern forms of computer animation and newcomers an opportunity to bypass traditional hierarchies in the media. Since increasing access to the Internet has liberalised the beginning of the Arab uprisings in both animation production and distribution 2011, a signifi cant number of individuals and small groups have become involved in producing web-based animated cartoons to of productions. However, Arab political sitcom animation is the brainchild of mediate local and regional tensions and to and media elites kept direct control over Mohammed Saeed Harib whose company, express criticism of politicians. Productions production through funding as well as Lammtara Pictures, was funded by Sheikh such as Jordanian Kharabeesh (Scribbles) indirect control through the censorship of Mohammed Bin Rashid’s Establishment and Tunisian Captain Khobza are reaching television channels. Th e fi lms and series for Young Business Leaders. Th e plot out to tens of thousands of YouTube with the largest budgets and widest publicity of the show revolves around the life of viewers, off ering a relatively liberal space for were oft en vehicles for the mediation of four elderly ladies living in a traditional social and political criticism. particular political and religious agendas. neighbourhood in the UAE, challenged by One case in point is Jordan’s Ben wa Essam the ever-expanding city and modernising Omar Adam Sayfo is a PhD student at (Ben and Izzy) in 2006. Th e 13-episode world around them. Little wonder, then, Utrecht University and a former visiting series was produced by Rubicon, a that the show essentially echoed the Emirati scholar at the University of Cambridge. He is multimedia production company elite’s concerns over the loss of identity and currently engaged in research on identity and funded by the King Abdullah II Fund for cultural heritage (turath), refl ected by the Arab animation Development. Th e six-million-dollar series mass migration of the workforce and the recounts the story of two eleven-year-old rapidly changing cityscape since the 1990s. boys, one with an American, the other Within a few years, Freej became a national with a Jordanian background. Th e episodes icon and a part of Emirati popular and showed how, during their time-travelling even commercial culture. It was probably adventures, the boys struggled to overcome the success of Freej that inspired young ingrained stereotypes and learned to be directors from all around the Arab world friends, refl ecting the domestic challenges to create their own sitcom animations, faced by the Jordanian government walking mediating social fi ssures and strengthening a political tightrope: the government was national identities at the same time. Th e highly unpopular at the time because of its appreciation of such shows is shown by support for the US war on Iraq in 2003. the fact that they debut during Ramadan, Th e Maghreb is no exception in the Arab primetime air, when whole families gather world’s admiration of animation. Algerian around television while eating ift ar, the fast and Tunisian professionals, generally breaking meal. working in local television industries, had High-budget Arab animation production been producing short animations since the is still produced by local elites and presented 1960s. However, due to the lack of funding on television channels. In more recent animation production fell behind that of times, however, modern forms of computer Egypt. Th e fi rst high-budget animations animation and increasing access to the Mish Mish Eff endi in 'National Defence', an began to be produced only recently. One Internet has liberalised both animation episode that aimed to drum up support for an of these, the 52-episode series Al-Jazair production and distribution, off ering Egyptian military bond Tarikh wa Hadarah (Algerian History and Civilisation), which debuted on Algerian television in 2012, is without a doubt the most ambitious animation production ever made in Algeria. Th e fi ft y-million-dinar ($600,000 USD) production was largely funded by the Ministry of Mujahedeen and the Ministry of Culture with the declared aim of advocating the offi cial standpoint in Algerian discourses on local history and national identity. Th e series presented Algeria as an integral part of the in the face of Western approaches. Fuelled by cluster-based development projects funded by oil money, the Gulf became an important centre for Arab animation production. One of the most widely known examples of the booming scene is Freej (Neighbourhood) from Dubai, debuting in 2006. Th e on going

12 The Middle East in London December 2014 – January 2015 PPHOTOHOTO COMPETITIONCOMPETITION MiddleMiddle EEastast iinn LLondonondon pphotohoto competitioncompetition rresultsesults ((2014)2014)

e received a large number of of people, places and themes – made ‘Helawiyat’. Three additional excellent entries for MEL’s choosing a winner even more of a photographs won commendations. W2014 photo competition challenge! We are grateful to all who took part, which we ran this year for a second We are very pleased to announce and look forward to new entries in the year running. The high standard of that the winner of the first place prize next round in 2015. entries – which covered a wide variety is Leeor Ohayon for his photograph Editorial Board

Leeor Ohayon is a documentary photographer and freelance writer from London (www.leeorohayon.com). His love of photography sprung from his travels, but was really cemented during a yearlong university exchange in Copenhagen. Th ere, he made it his objective to focus his photography on documenting the human experience – good and bad – to emphasise universal aspects that transcend borders and cultures. In this photograph, taken in , he captured the cake-seller; the Moroccan ‘helawiyat’ is a noticeable feature of the urban landscape, and Moroccan cakes and biscuits are some of the most intricate and elaborate sweets. While ‘exotic’ for the average western traveller, the cake-seller’s motive remains

© Leeor Ohayon universal: trying to earn one’s keep. Winning photograph ‘Helawiyat’

Sean Duff y recently graduated from SOAS with an MA in Social Anthropology of Development. He took this photo in Jerusalem’s Old City in December 2011 on a trip to visit friends in the West Bank. A large tray of bread being carried as if along the back stairs of a restaurant gives the city walls an arterial sense of movement and is suggestive of

© Sean Duffy daily life within them.

Commendation photograph ‘Life of bread’

December 2014 – January 2015 The Middle East in London 13 Akkas Al-Ali is a theatre-maker, freelance writer and doctoral candidate in drama at the University of Exeter researching Palestinian theatre. He is also the co-artistic director of Sandpit Arts (www.sandpitarts.org). Th is photograph was taken earlier this year whilst he was doing fi eldwork in Palestine. Th e gate is the main entrance into the Old City of Jerusalem. It is also a locus of Palestinian and Israeli contestation over space, demonstrated by Nakba Day commemorations and the Jerusalem Day ‘fl ag dance’. Usually guarded by Israeli forces, this photo off ers a glimpse into how Palestinian teenagers routinely challenge the Zionist ordering of space. © Akkas Al-Ali

Commendation photograph ‘Boys playing on Damascus Gate’

Madeleine McGivern works for Christian Aid as the Middle East Economic and Social Rights Programme Manager. She enjoys taking pictures of people and of places, as well as shots with interesting colours, lines and light. She likes the idea of her photos either making people smile, or telling them about something important – or both. Th is photo is more the latter: it’s a stark reminder of what life was like before the Israeli off ensive in Gaza over the summer. Th e fi shermen of Gaza face a constant struggle to even get out to sea in order to feed themselves and their families. Th e port was heavily damaged during the war. See more at www.

© Madeleine McGivern madeleinesphotos.yolasite.com.

Commendation photograph ‘Gaza’s fi shermen at work – before’

14 The Middle East in London December 2014 – January 2015 RREVIEWS:EVIEWS: EXHIBITIONSEXHIBITIONS PoetryPoetry & eexilexile © Ipek Duben British Museum, Gallery 34 Until 1 March 2015

he condition of exile, a personally of the individual experience that people At its most graphic and poignant in wrenching and dislocating have gone through at particular moments this exhibition is Refugee (fi g. 1) an artist’s Texperience, is one that is hard to in time but connect to wider narratives. book about worldwide forced migration imagine unless you have been through it. Th is display from the British Museum’s during the last decades; ten images with But out of this pain and uncertainty can growing collection of Middle Eastern art childlike embroidery, the delicate gauze come some of the most extraordinary looks at some of those personal stories pages belie the terror and helplessness poetry and art. Such works speak not only within that wider setting. of people forced to fl ee their homeland whether from Kosovo, Pakistan, Liberia or Iraq. Another kind of political exile is evoked in two groups of works which are inspired by the poetry of Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish. Mona Saudi, Jordanian sculptor and painter, added text to drawings she made in the late 1970s to create a gift for the celebrated poet, which she intended to off er him on his birthday in March 2008. Sadly, he died before she was able to give it to him. For her gift Saudi transcribed lines that appealed to her: ‘I am the land and the land is you, this is my song, and this is the emergence of Jesus from the wound, and the wind is green like grass covering the nails and my chains…’ (from Th e Poem of the Land, translated by Atif Alshaer, fi g. 2). Darwish, forced to leave Israel in 1971, spoke movingly about what that meant: ‘When you are in your home, you don’t glorify home: you don’t feel its importance and its intimacy, but when deprived of home, it turns into a need and a lust, as if it is the ultimate aim of the whole journey.’ Darwish, like the Syrian poet Adonis, has inspired many artists

(Above) Figure 1, Ipek Duben, Refugee, 2010. Photoprint and hand-stitching on synthetic silk on Canson paper with metal wire. British Museum 2011,6029.1. Funded by CaMMEA (Contemporary and Modern Middle Eastern Art Acquisitions group) (Left) Figure 2, Mona Saudi, Homage to Mahmoud Darwish, The Poem of the Land. Silkscreen and watercolour. British Museum

© Mona Saudi 2014, 6025. 5. Funded by CaMMEA

December 2014 – January 2015 The Middle East in London 15 to work with his poetry, and French- Benanteur © Abdallah Algerian artist Abdallah Benanteur’s Birds Die in Galilee (fi g. 3) is an unbound book, also on display, its individual pages covered with birds and text, the poem, a reference to Darwish’s village of al-Birweh in Galilee destroyed in 1948. Th ere are other exiles alluded to in the exhibition. A complex combination of references underlie the drawings of Lebanese artist Mireille Kassar (fi g. 4). On one level, she was attracted by the universality of the message of the Conference of the Birds, the Persian poem by Farid al-Din Attar (d. c.1221). Th is tells of birds going on a quest to fi nd who should be their king. Th eir arduous journey led by the hoopoe seeking the legendary Simurgh ends in failure when all they fi nd is a lake in which they see simply their own refl ections. Exile is at the heart of this project because ‘for them [the birds] it was the right time to leave, in the search for something else.’ Th is echoes the artist’s own situation, having left Lebanon to live in France. By entitling these drawings Homage to Giotto, she alludes to the suff ering of St Francis receiving the stigmatas painted by Giotto children and the drawings act as a about being exiled from her own body. in this pose (d.1337). memoir of that period. ‘In this work’, Not feeling that this body belongs to her And fi nally, a very diff erent exile she writes, ‘there are children, there are as though ‘wearing clothes not your own is evoked in a set of drawings, Futur men, and there are women learning to that seem borrowed.’ Imparfait (fi g. 5) by Turkish artist Canan live… It is not the misfortune of others Tolon. She caught polio as a child in which fascinates and astonishes but To see more images of the works on Turkey at a time when the use of the the extraordinary will of a child to live. display visit http://www.britishmuseum. vaccine that has now virtually eradicated It is a force inherent in all of us that org/whats_on/exhibitions/poetry_and_ the disease was not widespread. Her persists, that makes us want to explore exile.aspx entire childhood was spent ‘in exile’ in the impossible… that makes us want a hospital in France for handicapped to dream.’ Th e ‘exile’ she evokes is also Venetia Porter is a Curator at the British Museum of the Islamic collections and Modern Middle Eastern art. In 2012 she curated the exhibition Hajj: journey to the heart of Islam

(Above) Figure 3, Abdallah Benanteur, Birds Die in Galilee, 2001. Ink and monotypes on paper. British Museum 2006,0203.1 Brooke Sewell Permanent Fund (Far left) Figure 4, Mireille Kassar, Homage to Giotto, 2013. Conference of the Birds series. Ink on handmade paper. British Museum 2014, 6032.1-2. Funded by CaMMEA (Left) Figure 5, Canan Tolon, Futur Imparfait, 1986-99. Ink and graphite on Mylar. British Museum 2013,6039.1-33 Funded by CaMMEA and SAHA, an association which supports artistic © Canan Tolon © Canan © Mireille Kassar projects connected to contemporary Turkish art

16 The Middle East in London December 2014 – January 2015 RREVIEWS:EVIEWS: BOOKSBOOKS TThehe PPoliticalolitical AAestheticsesthetics ooff GGloballobal Protest:Protest: thethe ArabArab SSpringpring andand BeyondBeyond

Edited by Pnina Werbner, Martin Webb and Kathryn Spellman-Poots

Edinburgh University Press, July 2014, £24.99

Reviewed by Charles Tripp

hen Mohamed Bouazizi set fi re projection of power, and in strategies of essays nevertheless address a number of to himself in the Tunisian town resistance. common themes that give a satisfying Wof Sidi Bouzid in December Across human history this has been coherence to the whole book. 2010, he was doing many things, some of achieved by a wide variety of means, Th is is prefi gured by a thoughtful which have yet to be disentangled from visual, musical and verbal. Visually, the introduction that sets the stage – to the myths that have grown up around range has been from the spectacularly continue the analogy of the spectacle this act of self-destruction. However, violent to non-violent spectacles. Th ese – for what is to come. Highlighting a the image of his burning body, caught on have drawn attention to claims and number of aspects of the aesthetic, the phone cameras and rapidly disseminated grievances, exploded myths of power editors draw together common strands through social media had an aesthetic and lampooned the powerful with an that are explored in detail in very specifi c power that helped to mobilise hundreds ingenuity and creativity designed to grab settings in the chapters that follow and of thousands of Tunisians. Th e shocking the attention of passers-by, amusing, that help to illuminate a grammar of nature of that image jolted people, enraging, inspiring and mobilising aesthetics in the politics of contestation. epitomising the desperation felt by young them in turn. Th e power of the aesthetic In doing so, the editors highlight such Tunisians. In doing so, it made them moment lies not simply in its capacity features as spaces and sites of protest, think again about their relationship to to direct oppositional activity against the performative aspects of the political, power. Ironically, a subsequent image government in a mechanical sense, the link between humour and the helped to focus much of their anger. Sent but also to change the imagination of subversion of authority, as well as the out by President Ben Ali’s press offi ce, authority and the apparatus of belief that role of new media and their capacity to this showed the president standing by sustains it. In doing so, it can foster new establish common imagery, adapted to the bedside of the now wholly bandaged forms of solidarity, brought into being and transformed by specifi c settings. fi gure of Bouazizi and, dangerously for partly through the self-recognition that Given the richness of essays that draw on Ben Ali, visually linked him and his artistic intervention can provoke. anthropology, studies of popular culture regime to the act of self-immolation. Th ese are some of the themes explored and politics, it is hard to do justice here Intentional or not, these were powerful in this extraordinarily interesting to the many insights provided by these aesthetic interventions. Th ey both collection of essays on aesthetic aspects cross-disciplinary approaches. It is a book disrupted the everyday and destabilised of political protest in a wide variety of of lasting value that is as accessible as its the normal self-presentation of the sites across the globe. Initially devoted subject matter and as visually striking, president. Th e images created the space to understanding these features in the thanks to the vivid photographs used for thinking against power, and, through context of the Arab uprisings that began throughout. aff ect, contributed to the mobilisation of in 2011, the book goes on to look at Tunisians who unseated their president examples of aesthetic intervention in Charles Tripp is Professor of Politics with within a matter of weeks. Although the places as diverse as Spain, Botswana, reference to the Middle East at SOAS. His aesthetic was obviously not the only India and Wisconsin. Meticulous in latest publication is Th e Power and the factor in play, it does serve to remind us their attention to the specifi cities of People: Paths of Resistance in the Middle how much this plays a part both in the place and time, the authors of these 14 East (Cambridge, 2013)

December 2014 – January 2015 The Middle East in London 17 RREVIEWS:EVIEWS: BOOKSBOOKS GGod’sod’s ZZoo:oo: AArtists,rtists, EExiles,xiles, LLondonersondoners

By Marius Kociejowski

Carcanet Press, July 2014, £30.00

Reviewed by Barnaby Rogerson

od’s Zoo is a study in the forces in trying to discover the geography of activists and poets, many of whom have that motivate creativity, focused on the old and new immigrant quarters hawked other wares to survive, be it G15 exiles at work in contemporary of London: the old Jewish quarter of furniture, antiquities or second hand London. It is a dazzling rich cake, a Whitechapel, the Hugenout weavers of books. Each is an exile or a migrant in polymath’s hoard in which each of the 16 Spitalfi elds, the little Italy of Clerkenwell, their own way – driven from their fi rst chapters is scented and baked to its own French Soho or today’s Bengali Tower home by chance, by will or to escape a stridently diff erent recipe. Hamlets, Moroccan Golborne Road or police state. London was seldom aspired Marius Kociejowski is himself an Arab Edgeware Road. Instead we head to, unlike the dream destinations of Paris, immigrant (the son of a Pole exiled straight out into the featureless suburbs Rome and Beirut, and the various exiles from his homeland to Canada) but cuts of outer London, to book lined bedsits, were eventually drawn to live in London, straight to the quick of London as a studios and well-loved apartments, lined not so much for its own charm but as a creative free-for-all, by hand picking a with CDs and framed posters. Not a place that is tolerant, comparatively free group of highly expressive intellectuals hint of Orientalist exotica is squeezed from fear and where being an outsider is a drawn from his own chance acquaintance. from these drab tarmac streets and their state of normality. Th is selection is enforced, not only by rain-wet pavements, nor can one imagine Each of the 15 chapters – one for his own experiences of benefi cent exile, colourful magazine articles being shot each exile – has been condensed into but from his day job as a book dealer amongst their featureless brick terraces one elegant, superbly long, eccentrically and as a highly regarded poet, with a serviced by far distant tube stops, towards diverse and learned conversation that may whole lifetime of real immersion in the the end of the line. But what treasures have taken Kociejowski ten years of visits, lived literary life of London. He also can be unearthed by a man with the re-writes and draft s to compose or was gave himself some tough, highly focused patience to talk and the ability to listen! perhaps the fruit of a single encounter. guidelines, and initially intended only It’s a far cry from brittle everyday London It is good to see the wider world of what to interview artistic exiles who were standards of face-fame and fi nancial can be described as the Middle East continuing to use their own language, or success married to media access. When and Central Asia well represented, with artistic idiom, whilst living out their exile you enter the pages you enter a London chapters on the Syrian sculptor Zahed in London. free of entrepreneurs, fi nanciers, celebrity Tajeddin, the Iraqi poet Fawzi Karim, the God’s Zoo is a thick book of some 437 cooks, cooked-up politicians, estate- Turkish writer Moris Farhi, the Uzbek pages, but there was not a page I wanted agents, diplomats and other state-agents. writer Hamid Ismailov and the Iranian cut. Th is is no migrant-tuned version Instead it’s a city represented by 15 free poet Mimi Khlavati. of Iain Sinclair’s psycho-geographical spirits: theatre directors, journalists, At the launch party I was surprised that quests over London. No time is invested actors, weavers, musicians, artists, Hamid Ismailov was not asked to read

18 The Middle East in London December 2014 – January 2015 from his legendary work, Th e Railway, devoted followers and where the memory strengthens their creativity, and indeed which is still banned in his Central Asian of the semen-like smell of date sap is enriches both London and in Moris’s case, homeland. I was concerned that the all that remains of palm orchards that the honour of his many motherlands. long arm of state censorship might have would be fl attened by the megalomania He is a Turk who can speak about the infl uenced an independent bookshop in of Saddam Hussein in a way that almost Anatolian minorities with the freedom of the heart of Holland Park, but there was a tangibly connects us with the fateful true experience, a Jew who can mourn the much better reason, for his wife was going warnings of Gilgamesh. Truly in this case, loss of his Mother’s cultured Sephardic to sing instead. the has poured its treasures into the family (shipped off to Auschwitz from In Iraq the presence of Fawzi Karim in Th ames. Salonika) and who decided to use this a café or a theatre would almost certainly Th ose who have fallen under the spell grief to better chronicle the Porajamos cause a riot by his fans, or fi ll a football of Moris Farhi’s Young Turk (which is ‘the Gypsy Holocaust’. He’s a Londoner stadium, but here in London he remains either a novel in 13 positions or a coming proud to have been of that fi rst generation on the very outer fringes of fame. Th ough of age memoir of exuberant beauty) of secularly-educated ‘Ataturk’s children’ fl uent in many languages, he decided will be enchanted by Kociejowski’s long and an erotic poet who has been given a to recite to us in , followed by a intimate conversation with its ancient MBE for his work as an activist for PEN translation, so that we could concentrate and handsome woman-loving creator. and an inhabitant of God’s Zoo who on the beauty of its true sound. In the Moris Farhi is undeniably Jewish by is free to openly off er up the humanist British way of things we will probably blood but heroically Turkish (if not prayer, ‘God save us from religion.’ only cherish him aft er his death, a sort downright Ottoman) by culture, and is of Mesopotamian Tolstoy in our midst, another fascinating example of London’s Barnaby Rogerson has written North writing with love for the full force of casual enrichment by chance. Moris was Africa – A History, Th e Prophet Qur’anic-derived Arabic but with an sent to England by his working-class Muhammad – a biography, Th e Last internal, highly individual, romantic Turkish father to learn the workings of Crusaders, Th e Heirs of the Prophet voice. Kociejowski’s portrait captures the textile trade in Bradford, before he Muhammad and guidebooks to Tunisia this sympathetic and enlightened fi gure, defected south towards theatre studies and . He is a member of the uniquely disengaged from politics or in London. Like so many exiles there is Editorial Board and his day job is the habitual strident patriotisms of the no regret about youthful hardships and Publisher at Eland (www.travelbooks. nationalist, communist or Baathist poets. the alienation endured. Instead the real co.uk) His words bring back the innocence of a emotional turning point seems to be the childhood where a holy ram could walk middle-aged decision to stay away from unharmed through the Baghdad streets, home, and not to return back to help old where a poet could be poisoned by the parents, school-friends and homeland. amount of arak bought for him by his And this decision also feeds and

Imagined self-portrait afl oat in the Tigris by Fawzi Karim, one of the artists featured in

© Fawzi Karim God's Zoo

December 2014 – January 2015 The Middle East in London 19 RREVIEWS:EVIEWS: BOOKSBOOKS Practising Diplomacy in the MMamlukamluk Sultanate:Sultanate: GiftsGifts aandnd MMaterialaterial CCultureulture iinn tthehe MMedievaledieval IIslamicslamic WWorldorld

By Doris Behrens-Abouseif

IB Tauris, May 2014, £59.00

Reviewed by Hugh Kennedy

iplomatic gift s of the Middle aspects as well – notably the long struggle powers and to Europe. Th ese caused a Ages are usually regarded as of Venetians and Mamluks for control of great sensation when paraded through the Dtrivial accessories to the real . streets and were illustrated in both Persian business of diplomacy, the making of But it is not just the wide scope of and western chronicles. treaties, arranging military cooperation Mamluk diplomacy which makes the Gift s to and from the Mamluks varied or developing trade links. Th ey may have gift ing so interesting: it is the varied according to time and circumstance oiled the wheels of international contacts natures of the sources which describe the but luxury items were always the most but they were not, in themselves, objects of gift s. Th e Mamluk state was nothing if not conspicuous: as so oft en in the history great importance. In this new and original bureaucratic and careful records were kept of Middle Eastern commerce in the book, Professor Abouseif shows how of gift s received. While the originals of Middle Ages, textiles were probably the interesting these gift s could be and how these records have largely vanished, copies most important of these but, along with much we can learn from studying them. and paraphrases of them are found in the spices, the least well-preserved. Glass, Th e Mamluk state from 1260 to 1517 is various textbooks of chancery practice and rock crystal, horses and elephants are a particularly fertile area for this enquiry. books of advice for princes. Records were all recorded too. In the 13th and 14th Th is is partly because it stood at the centre also kept by the great chroniclers of the century young slaves, of both sexes, were of a world system which meant that the Mamluk era, like al-Maqrizi. Th e records frequently exchanged between Muslim Mamluks maintained diplomatic relations of the Il-Khanids and the Timurids were rulers but by the 15th century such human with a wide variety of foreign states. Th ere much less informative, but the Italian presents seem to have become much more were relations with other Muslim powers, sources add a whole new dimension rare. notably the Il-Khanid and Timurid rulers of richness. Th ere are travel accounts, Th is is a fascinating book, rich in details, of Iraq and Iran and later the Ottomans. describing how their envoys were received full of delight in the curious and unusual. Th e gift ing between these powers was oft en and what they saw, and there are the visual But it also makes serious points about competitive, attempting to demonstrate images. the ways in which gift s were chosen, the their wealth and piety vis-à-vis the others. One of the great strengths of Abouseif’s messages they were expected to convey Alternatively, on occasion, contempt or work has always been her use of both and the whole business of international hostility was indicated by the sending of textual and material evidence to shed light diplomacy in an era when princely display derisory gift s or items of low value military on Mamluk ways of doing things and was a fundamental and essential aspect of equipment, symbolic of a developing building buildings. She brings this talent the language of power. warlike relationship. to bear on the evidence of diplomatic Just as important were the diplomatic activity. Th ere are illustrations of surviving Hugh Kennedy has been Professor of Arabic gift s exchanged with the Christian examples of luxury armour and textiles in SOAS since 2007. From 1972 to 2007 he powers of the northern shores of the of the era and also paintings which depict was Lecturer and then Professor of Middle Mediterranean, notably Venice and other lavish and extravagant gift s, the tuhaf, Eastern History at the University of St Italian city states. Th is diplomacy was which the list with such enthusiasm. Andrews. He is the author of numerous largely concerned with the development of Among the more curious of these are books and articles including, most recently, trade links so open competition and rivalry the pictures of the giraff es which were Th e Courts of the Caliphs (2004) and Th e were less apparent, but there were military sent from time to time to other Muslim Great Arab Conquests (2007)

20 The Middle East in London December 2014 – January 2015 BBOOKSOOKS ININ BRIEFBRIEF BBeyondeyond tthehe AArabrab SSpring:pring: TThehe EEvolvingvolving RRulinguling BBargainargain iinn tthehe MMiddleiddle EEastast

Edited by Mehran Kamrava

Th e Arab Spring occurred within the context of the unravelling of the dominant ‘ruling bargain’ that emerged across the Middle East in the 1950s. Th e old ‘ruling bargain’ is being replaced by new and inchoate systems that redefi ne sources of authority and legitimacy through various devices, experiences and processes; by reassessing the roles, functions and structures of institutions; and by the initiatives of key personalities and actors. Across the Middle East ‘authority’ and ‘political legitimacy’ are in fl ux. Where power will ultimately reside depends largely on the shape, voracity and staying power of these new, emerging conceptions of authority. Th e contributors to this book examine the nature and evolution of ruling bargains, the political systems to which they gave rise, the steady unravelling of the old systems and the structural consequences thereof.

October 2014, Hurst, £20.00 TThehe HHizbullahizbullah PPhenomenon:henomenon: PPoliticsolitics aandnd CCommunicationommunication

By Lina Khatib, Dina Matar and Atef Alshaer

Hizbullah is a leading political actor in Lebanon and a dynamic force in the Middle East with a sophisticated communication strategy. From relatively humble beginnings in the 1980s, Hizbullah’s political clout and its public perception have followed an upward trajectory thanks to a political programme that blends military, social, economic and religious elements and adapts to changes in its environment. Its communication strategy is similarly adaptive, supporting the group’s political objectives. Hizbullah’s target audience has expanded to a regional and global viewership. Th e authors of this book address how Hizbullah uses image, language and its charismatic leader, Hassan Nasrallah, to legitimise its political aims and ideology and appeal to diff erent target groups.

August 2014, Hurst, £19.99 TThehe WWaterater CCrisisrisis iinn YYemen:emen: MManaginganaging EExtremextreme WWaterater SScarcitycarcity iinn tthehe MMiddleiddle EEastast

By Christopher Ward

Christopher Ward provides an analysis of the water crisis in Yemen, including the institutional, environmental, technical and political economy components. He assesses the social and economic impacts of the crisis and provides in-depth case studies in the key management areas. Th e fi nal part of the book off ers an assessment of current strategy and looks at future ways in which the people of the country and their government can infl uence outcomes and make the transition to a sustainable water economy. Th e Water Crisis in Yemen off ers a comprehensive, practical and eff ective approach to achieving sustainable and equitable water-management in a country whose water problems are amongst the most serious in the world.

August 2014, IB Tauris, £68.00

December 2014 – January 2015 The Middle East in London 21 BBOOKSOOKS ININ BRIEFBRIEF SSyria:yria: FFromrom tthehe GGreatreat WWarar ttoo CCivilivil WWarar By John McHugo

Syria’s descent into civil war has already claimed an estimated 150,000 lives while nearly nine million people have fl ed their homes. Th is is now the greatest humanitarian and political crisis of the 21st century. John McHugo considers why Syria’s foundations as a nation have proved so fragile. Tracing the history of Syria from the First World War to the present, McHugo lays bare the causes of the current tragedy. He covers the country’s thwarted attempts at independence, the legacies of the Anglo–French partition that fragmented it and the failures of divisive French policies. He then turns to recent events: religious and sectarian tensions that have pulled Syria apart, the pressures of the Cold War and the Arab–Israeli dispute and two generations of rule by the Assads.

June 2014, Saqi Books, £17.99 SShi’ihi’i IIslam:slam: aann IIntroductionntroduction By Najam Haider

During the formative period of Islam, in the fi rst centuries aft er Muhammad’s death, two particular intellectual traditions emerged, Sunnism and Shi’ism. Sunni Muslims endorsed the historical caliphate, while Shi’i Muslims, supporters of ‘Ali, cousin of the Prophet and the fourth caliph, articulated their own distinctive doctrines. Th e Sunni–Shi’i schism is oft en framed as a dispute over the identity of the successor to Muhammad, whereas in reality, Sunni and Shi’i Muslims also diff er on a number of seminal theological doctrines concerning the nature of God and legitimate political and religious authority. Th is book examines the development of Shi’i Islam through the lenses of belief, narrative and memory, covering a wide range of Shi’i communities from the demographically predominant Twelvers to the transnational Isma’ilis to the scholar-activist Zaydis.

October 2014, Cambridge University Press, £17.99 CCities,ities, CCitadels,itadels, aandnd SSightsights ooff tthehe NNearear EEast:ast: FFrancisrancis BBedford'sedford's NNineteenth-Centuryineteenth-Century PPhotographshotographs ooff EEgypt,gypt, tthehe LLevant,evant, aandnd CConstantinopleonstantinople Text by Sophie Gordon and Badr El Hage In 1862, the Prince of Wales, eldest son of Britain’s Queen Victoria, embarked on a grand tour of the Middle East for his education and enlightenment. Accompanying the royal party was Francis Bedford, an accomplished practitioner of the still young art of photography, charged with taking views of the cities and historic places visited on the tour for the royal album. Th e result is an extraordinary collection of some of the best early photographs of Cairo and the temples of Upper Egypt, Jerusalem and the Holy Land, Lebanon and Damascus, Izmir and Constantinople. From timeless views of the Pyramids, the Dome of the Rock, Baalbek, and Hagia Sophia to scenes from another age of the streets of Cairo or tall ships on the Bosphorus, 120 of Bedford’s most outstanding photographs are showcased here in this visual tour of ancient lands in royal company.

September 2014, Th e American University in Cairo Press, £24.95

22 The Middle East in London December 2014 – January 2015 PPROFILEROFILE AAnnanna CContadiniontadini

Professor of the History of Islamic Art, SOAS

now published as A World of Beasts and opened an exhibition on Istanbul, (Brill, 2012). Th is refl ects my interest Ottoman Turkey and Europe. Connections in the production and consumption of between the Ottomans and Europe later illustrated manuscripts in the Middle East became the subject of Th e Renaissance and the relationship between text and and the Ottoman World (Ashgate, 2013, image. edited with Claire Norton). Th is theme Soon aft er completing the PhD, I won a continues in an on-going interdisciplinary two-year Research Fellowship in Islamic and multi-institutional project that I Studies at the Research Department of am directing on various Middle Eastern the V&A where my main task was to metal pieces in Europe, the best known study the early Islamic collection of the being the imposing bronze Griffi n that Museum. Th is gave me the opportunity was installed on the roof of Pisa cathedral, to extend my interests and expertise consecrated in 1118. I am interested in the to material culture and objects and to movement of objects, in the transmission publish, in 1998, Fatimid Art at the of ornament and, especially, in the Victoria and Albert Museum. I then took reception and interpretation of Middle up a lectureship in Islamic Art at Trinity Eastern and European art across cultural College, Dublin and then became Curator boundaries. of the Islamic Collections at the Chester In addition to teaching Arab and Beatty Library, before returning to SOAS Persian painting, and the art and as Lecturer in Islamic Art in 1997. material culture of the Middle East, I My exploration of the SOAS collections have introduced courses on East–West resulted in an exhibition at the Brunei connections and, as the new Head of the Gallery in 2007, with an accompanying School of Arts (SoA), I shall be involved publication entitled Objects of Instruction: with further fascinating and challenging Treasures of the School of Oriental and interdisciplinary projects, fostering African Studies, funded by the Foyle joint research, exhibitions and teaching Foundation and the AHRC. It made the programmes that involve its three artistic assets of SOAS accessible for the component parts: History of Art and fi rst time to a wider audience and created Archaeology, Music and Media. a space permanently dedicated to SOAS rt and music have been interests artistic and archival treasures: the Foyle of mine since childhood, and Special Collections Gallery. In 2012 it was Awhile studying in Venice I took a followed by Gift s of Recognition: Modern Diploma in Piano from the Conservatory and Contemporary Art from the SOAS ‘Benedetto Marcello’ and at the same Collections, and earlier this year I curated time obtained a Laurea in Arabic and Th e Arts of South East Asia from the SOAS Islamic Art at Cà Foscari University. It is Collections, still currently on display. then that I started travelling to the Arab A key thread that has run throughout countries, Turkey and Iran, and these my career – whether in research, research trips, continued throughout curatorship or teaching – has been to my career, have allowed me to explore investigate the connections between the numerous collections and to study major Middle East and Europe. Th e Fatimid monuments in the region. pieces I studied at the V&A, for instance, Encouraged by the late Géza included rock crystal objects that were Fehérvári, I then enrolled in SOAS’ PhD oft en used as reliquaries in Western programme, and under the supervision Churches. At the Chester Beatty Library I of Michael Rogers wrote a thesis on concentrated on a later period of relations early Islamic illustrated manuscripts, between the West and the Islamic world

December 2014 – January 2015 The Middle East in London 23 PPROFILEROFILE MMostafaostafa DDahshtiahshti

Artist

orn in 1960 in Khash, Iran, Mostafa whether natural or man-made, are still a continues, ‘simply follow the rules of the Dashti has devoted many years preoccupation in most of his pieces. image itself.’ Bto exploring communication on In recent years, Dashti’s mode of Dedicated to communication through canvas. Dashti studied painting and communication has become a bit painting since 1984, Mostafa Dashti’s calligraphy under the tutelage of Adin more abstract and he has developed a works have appeared in exhibitions and Aghadashlou, the late Seyed Ahmad preference for using darker colours. Karl displays in cities such as Tehran, Isfahan, Abtahi and Abdulah Faradi. Dashti has Schlamminger describes these works as Dubai and Los Angeles. stated that nature is at the root of his becoming ‘... somehow light. In them, artistic expression. Every item in his up and down, front and back, weight paintings can be traced to something and weightlessness, and water and air in nature: earth, sky, clouds and even lose their conventional and established celestial bodies. His early work, inspired meanings. Th eir creation is neither based by his birthplace, depicted powerful on motifs nor are they intended to convey desert scenes. Today landscapes, any moral lessons; these creations’, he

Mostafa Dashti, Galaxy, 2011. Oil on canvas. Donated by Iran Heritage Foundation to the Centre for Iranian Studies, London Middle East Institute

24 The Middle East in London December 2014 – January 2015 LISTINGS EEventsvents iinn LLondonondon

HE EVENTS and organisations listed below Tare not necessarily endorsed or supported by The Middle East in London. The accompanying texts and images are based primarily on information provided by the organisers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the compilers or publishers. While every possible effort is made to ascertain the accuracy of these listings, readers are advised to seek confirmation of all events using the contact details provided for each event. Submitting entries and updates: please send all updates and submissions for entries related to future events via e-mail to Villa Touma (2014), Dir Suha Arraf (See December Events, p. 25) [email protected]

BM – British Museum, Great London SE1 8XT. T 020 7928 3232 4328 E [email protected] W www. political aims and ideology and Russell Street, London WC1B W https://whatson.bfi .org.uk soas.ac.uk/nme/ane/lcane/ appeal to diff erent target groups. 3DG Admission free. Wolfson Th eatre, SOAS –SOAS, University of 5:15 pm | Cookery and Visual Tuesday 2 December New Academic Building, LSE. London, Th ornhaugh Street, Knowledge: Toward a Social T 020 7955 6520 E r.sleiman- Russell Square, London WC1H History of Safavid Iran 5:45 pm | Why Yemen matters: [email protected] W www.lse.ac.uk/ 0XG (Seminar) Sussan Babaie, Th e Development, Security and the middleEastCentre/ LSE – London School of Courtauld Institute. Organised rhetoric of Unity (Lecture) Helen Economics and Political Science, by: Department of History, SOAS. Lackner, British-Yemeni Society. Wednesday 3 December Houghton Street, London WC2 Near & Middle East History Organised by: London Middle East 2AE Seminar. Admission free. Room Institute, SOAS (LMEI). Part of the 1:00 pm | ‘Th e Promised Land’: B104, Brunei Gallery, SOAS. E LMEI's Tuesday Evening Lecture Gender in al-Tabari’s Political [email protected] W www.soas. Programme on the Contemporary Account of the Rise of Islam DECEMBER EVENTS ac.uk/history/events/ Middle East, Th e Middle East - (Seminar) Ulrika Mårtensson, Th e Changing Economic and Political Norwegian University of Science 6:00 pm | Christian and Jewish Landscapes. Admission free. and Technology. Organised by: Monday 1 December Tombstones from Ancient Zoara/ Khalili Lecture Th eatre, SOAS. T Centre of Islamic Studies, SOAS. Zoora (Lecture) Ilaria Bultrighini, 020 7898 4330/4490 E vp6@soas. Admission free. B111, Brunei Until 11 December | 2014 London UCL. Organised by: Anglo Israel ac.uk W www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/ Gallery, SOAS. E [email protected] Palestine Film Festival (Film) Archaeological Society (AIAS) events/ W www.soas.ac.uk/islamicstudies/ Th is year’s festival features more and the Institute of Jewish Studies. events/ than 40 works of fi lm and video Admission free. Lecture Th eatre 6:30 pm | Th e Hizbullah by Palestinian and international G6, Ground Floor, Institute of Phenomenon: Politics and 5:30 pm | Th e Curious Life of artists with 22 screenings, director Archaeology, UCL, 31-34 Gordon Communication (Talk) Lina Objects in the Arabian Nights: talks, and panel discussions Square, London WC1H OPY. T Khatib, Carnegie Middle East what can food, gems and clothes scheduled. Tickets: Various. 020 8349 5754 W www.aias.org.uk Center; Dina Matar, SOAS. tell us about cultural encounters Barbican Cinema and University Organised by: LSE Middle East (Inaugural Lecture) Wen-chin of London venues. E info@ 6:15 pm | "If an eclipse of the sun Centre. Lina Khatib and Dina Ouyang, SOAS. Organised by: palestinefi lm.org W http:// takes place…" Th e solar eclipse Matar present their most recent SOAS. Ouyang's inaugural lecture palestinefi lmfoundation.org/ omens of the Ancient Near book, Th e Hizbullah Phenomenon: will trace the ways in which jade Eastern series enūma anu enlil Politics and Communication and silk fi gure in literary texts, Until 27 December | BFI’s (Lecture) Jeanette Fincke, SOAS. in which they address how and consider the role of literature Discover Arab Cinema (Film) Organised by: London Centre for Hizbullah uses image, language in memorializing cultural Tickets: Various. BFI Southbank, the Ancient Near East. Admission and its charismatic leader, encounters. Admission free – Belvedere Road, South Bank, free. Room L67, SOAS. T 020 7898 Hassan Nasrallah, to legitimise its Pre-registration required. Brunei

December 2014 – January 2015 The Middle East in London 25 6-7 GINGKO LIBRARY CONFERENCE 2014

December The First World War and its Aftermath: The Shaping of the Middle East 2014 At SOAS and The New College of the Humanities

INDIVIDUAL SESSION TICKETS NOW AVAILABLE FROM WWW.THEGINGKOLIBRARY.COM

Alaa Al Aswany and Tarek Osman ‘From the Arab Revolt to the Arab Spring’ Introduced by Nur Laiq | Saturday 6th December | 17.00 | Brunei Gallery, SOAS FREE EVENT – ONLINE REGISTRATION ESSENTIAL

LaZibg`K^eb`bhnlB]^gmbmr3Ma^

P^^d^g]\hg_^k^g\^mb\d^ml £50 (CONCESSIONS £30) Includes 11 sessions over two days at SOAS and the New College of the Humanities

Gallery Lecture Th eatre, SOAS. at SOAS and the London Middle 6:30 pm | From Imperial Capital Gingko conference looks at the T 020 7898 4013 E events@soas. East Institute, SOAS (LMEI). Part to Global City: Transformations immediate aft ermath of the First ac.uk W www.soas.ac.uk/about/ of the Islamic Art Circle at SOAS of Istanbul 1914-2014 (Lecture) World War with a particular focus events/ Lecture Programme. T 020 7898 Erik-Jan Zürcher, Leiden on how the period began a long 4330/4490 E [email protected] W University. Organised by: Th e process of reshaping the identities 6:30 pm | Food for thought: www.soas.ac.uk/art/islac/ British Institute at Ankara of the peoples of the Middle East. a conversation about Persian (BIAA). BIAA Annual Lecture. Convened by HRH Prince Hassan culinary arts (Panel Discussion Th ursday 4 December Zürcher, one of the world’s leading of Jordan and Barbara Schwepcke, & Reception) Organised by: experts on Turkey, will chart the Gingko Library. Tickets: Pre- Iran Heritage Foundation (IHF). 4:00 pm | From 3rd Millennium development of the architecture, registration required E farhanah@ Chaired by Sussan Babaie of BC Hunters to Crusaders: economy and population of thegingkolibrary.com Venue: Th e Courtauld Institute, a panel Culture, Beliefs & Commercial Istanbul in the 20th and 21st SOAS. W http://thegingkolibrary. of culinary experts will discuss Dealings in Ancient Sidon centuries. Tickets: £10/BIAA com/ Persian food, their relationship (Lecture) Claude Doumet Serhal, members free - Pre-registration with it, its characteristics, and its BM. Organised by: Palestine required. Th e British Academy, 10 Sunday 7 December representation today. Tickets: £10. Exploration Fund and the BM. Carlton House Terrace, London Asia House, 63 New Cavendish Evans Memorial Lecture. A talk SW1Y 5AH. T 020 7969 5204 E 10:00 am | Th e First World War Street, London W1G 7LP. T 020 on the ancient city state of Sidon [email protected] W www.biaa. and its Aft ermath: Th e Shaping 3651 2121 E astrid@iranheritage. which the BM, in collaboration ac.uk of the Middle East (Two-Day org W www.iranheritage.org with the Department of Conference: Saturday 6 -Sunday 7 Antiquities of Lebanon, has been Saturday 6 December December 2014) See listing above. 7:00 | A Horse by a Pond and Other excavating for the past 15 years. Congruities in Medieval Iranian Admission free - Pre-registration 9:00 am | Th e First World War Monday 8 December Ceramic Decoration (Lecture) required T 020 7323 8181 W www. and its Aft ermath: Th e Shaping Th e Hadassah and Daniel Khalili britishmuseum.org BP Lecture of the Middle East (Two-Day 2:30 pm | Be Inspired at the Royal Memorial Lecture in Islamic Art Th eatre, Clore Education Centre, Conference: Saturday 6 -Sunday Geographical Society (with and Culture. Oya Pancaroğlu, BM. T 020 7935 5379 E execsec@ 7 December 2014) Organised IBG): Yemen and Hadhramaut Boğaziçi University, Istanbul. pef.org.uk W www.pef.org.uk / by: Th e Gingko Library. Gingko (Talk) Alasdair MacLeod, Royal Organised by: Islamic Art Circle www.britishmuseum.org Conference 2014. Th e inaugural Geographical Society (with IBG).

26 The Middle East in London December 2014 – January 2015 Kamran Djam Annual Lectures Monday 2 and Tuesday 3 February 2015 Centre for Iranian Studies, SOAS, University of London Michael Barry, Lecturer in Islamic Studies, Princeton University Nizâmî : Mirror of the Unseen World Nizâmî’s Brides of the Seven Climes

Monday: 7.00pm Preceded by a recepƟ on at 6.00pm in the Brunei Suite Tuesday: 7.00pm

Khalili Lecture Theatre SOAS, University of London Russell Square London WC1H 0XG

Admission Free - All Welcome

Enquiries Tel. No. 020 7898 4330 E-mail [email protected] Website www.soas.ac.uk/lmei-cis/events/

December 2014 – January 2015 The Middle East in London 27 Organised by: Royal Geographical Jabr, psychiatrist practicing in of Gypsy Music (Concert) Part of be playing alongside the group Society (with IBG). MacLeod East Jerusalem and the West Bank. the SOAS Concert Series. Opaz is and will be leading a workshop profi les early travellers and Organised by: London Middle an ensemble that plays music in 3-6:00pm prior to the concert. explorers who have engaged East Institute, SOAS (LMEI), the the Romani (Gypsy) style from Tickets: £15 available from the with the people and places of Centre for Palestine Studies, SOAS Turkey and other parts of the SOAS Online Store. Admission the region, examining how they and the UK-Palestine Mental North-Eastern Mediterranean. to the Workshop is free. Brunei are represented in the Society’s Health Network. Part of the Admission free. Brunei Gallery Gallery Lecture Th eatre, SOAS. T Collections and the use of their LMEI's Tuesday Evening Lecture Lecture Th eatre, SOAS. T 020 020 7898 4330 / 020 8455 8184 / historical legacy today. Tickets: Programme on the Contemporary 7898 4500 E musicevents@soas. 0746 6112 888 E [email protected] £5/RGS-IBG and educational free Middle East, Th e Middle East - ac.uk W www.soas.ac.uk/concerts / [email protected] W www.soas. - Pre-registration required. Royal Changing Economic and Political ac.uk/lmei/events/ Geographical Society (with the Landscapes. How does the Institute of British Geographers), political situation impact on the Th ursday 11 December 7.00 pm | Yalda night: A concert 1 Kensington Gore, London mental health of Palestinians of Iranian and Italian music in SW7 2AR. T 020 7591 3044 E living under occupation? How 6:30 pm | Dr Nelida Fuccaro on celebration of Yalda night Yalda [email protected] W www.rgs. do Palestinians respond to their Oil Lives and Cultures in Iraq night concert of Iranian and Italian org/collectionsevents extraordinary circumstances? under the Monarchy (Lecture) music, organised by Peyman What can international civil Organised by: Th e British Institute Heydarian of the Voice of Santur 5:15 pm | From Iran to the society contribute? Admission for the Study of Iraq (BISI) & and the SOAS Iranian Music Deccan and Back Again: King- free. Khalili Lecture Th eatre, Th e Iraqi Cultural Centre – UK. Society to celebrate the longest Making and Commemoration in SOAS. T 020 7898 4330/4490 E Fuccaro will explore the lives and night of the year. Tickets: £15/£10 Early Modern Persian Narratives [email protected] W www.soas. cultures of Iraq’s oil workers before students and the unwaged/£6 of Migration (Seminar) ac.uk/lmei/events/ the 1958 Revolution, contrasting SOAS students. DLT, SOAS. E Derek Mancini-Lander, SOAS. the oft en turbulent landscape of [email protected] Organised by: Department of 6:30 pm | Ben Bella's Algeria: Kirkuk and the more peaceful and W www.thesantur.com History, SOAS. Near & Middle Th ird Worldism beyond positive image of the oil bonanza East History Seminar. Admission Continents and Colours popularized by the Iraq Petroleum free. Room B104, Brunei Gallery, (Lecture) Jeff rey Byrne, University Company (IPC). Admission free. Wednesday 17 December SOAS. E [email protected] W www. of British Columbia. Organised Th e Iraqi Cultural Centre - UK, soas.ac.uk/history/events/ by: Th e Society for Algerian Th reshold House, 65 Shepherd's 6:30 pm | T E Lawrence and Studies and the LSE Middle East Bush Green, London W12 8TX. the Th ird Arab Uprising 6:15 pm | New Data on Sealing Centre. Byrne investigates the fate E [email protected] W www.bisi. (Lecture) Noel Brehony, CBRL. Practices at Ancient Nuzi on of decolonisation in North Africa, ac.uk / www.iraqiculturalcentre. Organised by: Th e Council for the Basis of the Harvard Semitic with a particular focus on the fate co.uk British Research in the Levant Museum Material (Seminar) of anti-colonial internationalism (CBRL). AGM Lecture. Brehony Marta Luciani, University of (or “Th ird Worldism”) following will examine the emergence of Vienna. Organised by: London the triumph of post-colonial Saturday 13 December Arab states aft er the uprisings of Centre for the Ancient Near East. territorial nationalism. Admission First World War along with the Admission free. Room L67, SOAS. free. Room 9.04, Tower 2, 2:00 pm | Gender, impact of the revolutions of the T 020 7898 4328 E mw41@soas. Clement's Inn, LSE. T 020 7955 Fundamentalism and the New mid twentieth century and how ac.uk W www.soas.ac.uk/nme/ 6520 E [email protected] W Politics in the Middle East the uprisings that started in 2011 ane/lcane/ www.lse.ac.uk/middleEastCentre/ (Seminar) Nira Yuval-Davis, are challenging the political and CMRB, UEL; Zahra Ali, EHESS; geographical shape of these states. 7:00 pm | In Conversation with Wednesday 10 December Sara Khan, Inspire; Magdulein Admission free - Pre-registration Alaa Al Aswany: Democracy Abaida. Organised by: CMRB required. Wolfson Auditorium, is the Answer (Discussion) 1:00 pm | Monsoon Revolution: (Centre for research on Migration, Th e British Academy, 10 Carlton Organised by: Th e Frontline Republicans, Sultans, and Refugees and Belonging, House Terrace, London SW1Y Club. In his new book Democracy Empires in Oman, 1965-1976 University of East London) 5AH. E [email protected] W www. is the Answer: Egypt’s Years (Panel Discussion) Abdel Razzaq the Centre for Gender Studies, cbrl.org.uk of Revolution, the novelist Al Takriti, University of Sheffi eld; SOAS. Admission free - Pre- Aswany brings together his weekly Laleh Khalili, SOAS; Charles Tripp, registration required E gfnpme. columns for the newspaper Al- SOAS. Organised by: School of eventbrite.co.ukRoom G3, SOAS. Friday 19 December Masry Al-Youm to give a picture Law, SOAS and the Centre for the W www.uel.ac.uk/cmrb and www. of Egypt’s recent history and study of Colonialism, Empire and facebook.com/CMRBuel / www. 12:00 pm | Turkey’s Transitions: refl ects on events of the past four International Law, SOAS (CCEIL). soas.ac.uk/genderstudies Integration, Inclusion, years, the divisions that they Discussion of the award-winning Institutions – A new World Bank have created and the hope for the book: Monsoon Revolution: 7:00 pm | A Night of Persian study on Turkey’s rise, its lessons future. Tickets: £12.50/£10 conc. Republicans, Sultans, and Empires Traditional Musical Instruments and limitations (Seminar) Martin Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place, in Oman, 1965-1976 by Abdel and Concert, Vocal: Jamshid Raiser, World Bank, Ankara. London W2 1QJ. T 020 7479 8940 Razzaq Takriti. Moderator: Nimer Rezaei Organised by: Naghmeh Organised by: SOAS Modern E [email protected] W Sultany, SOAS. Admission free. Ensemble in association with the Turkish Studies Programme, www.frontlineclub.com Room L101, Institute of Advanced London Middle East Institute, LMEI. Sponsored by Nurol Bank. Legal Studies, Charles Clore SOAS (LMEI). A unique event Part of the Seminars on Turkey Tuesday 9 December House, 17 Russell Square, London featuring Persian musical series. Convened by Benjamin WC1B 5DR. E [email protected] W instruments followed by a concert Fortna, SOAS. Admission free. 5:45 pm | Palestine: Th e www.soas.ac.uk/cceil/ with the Naghmeh Ensemble and Room 116, SOAS. T 020 7898 Invisible Damage of Life under Jamshid Rezaei (vocal). Persian 4431 E [email protected] W www. Occupation (Lecture) Samah 7:00 pm | Opaz: Nomadic Soul music maestro, Hossein Tavan will soas.ac.uk/lmei/events/

28 The Middle East in London December 2014 – January 2015 JANUARY EVENTS British Foundation for the Study Friday 16 January Admission free. Lecture Th eatre of Arabia (BFSA) jointly with the G6, Ground Floor, Institute of PEF and CBRL. Hisham Khatib, Time TBC | From Persepolis to Archaeology, UCL, 31-34 Gordon Monday 12 January World Energy Council. Khatib Isfahan: Safeguarding Cultural Square, London WC1H OPY. T explores the history of westerners’ Heritage (Th ree-Day Conference: 020 8349 5754 W www.aias.org.uk 6:30 pm | Berber Government: observations of the Holy Land Friday 16 - Sunday 18 January) Th e the Kabyle polity in pre- through his own collection conference will highlight some of Tuesday 20 January colonial Algeria (Lecture) Hugh of manuscripts, paintings, the damage to monuments and Roberts, Tuft s University, Boston. photographs and maps. Admission sites as well as possible steps to 5:45 pm | Israel/Palestine: does Organised by: Th e Society for free. BP Lecture Th eatre, Clore preserve them. Organised by: recognising both states make a Algerian Studies and the LSE Education Centre, BM. Admission Iran Heritage Foundation (IHF) diff erence? (Lecture) Sir Vincent Middle East Centre. Roberts free. E ionisthompson@yahoo. and the Soudavar Memorial Fean KCVO, former UK Consul- discusses his new book in which co.uk W www.thebfsa.org Foundation with support from the General to Jerusalem. Organised he lays the foundation of a new British Institute of Persian Studies by: London Middle East Institute, way of understanding the complex 5:45pm | Shadows of the Middle (BIPS). Tickets & Venue: Asia SOAS (LMEI) and the Centre place and role of the Kabyles in East: Does ‘Loyal Opposition’ House, 63 New Cavendish Street, for Palestine Studies, SOAS. Part Algerian political life from the Off er Lessons for the Region? London W1G 7LP. T 020 3651 of the LMEI's Tuesday Evening pre-colonial era to the present (Lecture) Nigel Fletcher, Centre 2121 E [email protected] W Lecture Programme on the day. Admission free. Wolfson for Opposition Studies. Organised www.iranheritage.org Contemporary Middle East, Th e Th eatre, New Academic Building, by: MBI Al Jaber Foundation. Part Middle East - Changing Economic LSE. T 020 7955 6520 E r.sleiman- of the MBI Al Jaber Foundation Monday 19 January and Political Landscapes. Two [email protected] W www.lse.ac.uk/ Lecture Series. Admission free - thirds of the world recognises middleEastCentre/ Pre-registration required. MBI Al 6:00 pm | Ahab's Ivory House: Palestine as a state - but the Jaber Conference Room, London When was it Destroyed? confl ict and the occupation go on. Th ursday 15 January Middle East Institute, SOAS (Lecture) Rupert Chapman, Sir Vincent Fean will discuss the (LMEI), University of London, British Museum. Organised by: framework for a just and lasting 4:00 pm | Th e Holy Land Lovingly MBI Al Jaber Building, 21 Russell Anglo Israel Archaeological peace in the Holy Land - if that Explored and Documented Square, London WC1B 5EA. E Society (AIAS) and the Institute is still attainable. Admission free. in the late Ottoman Period [email protected] W of Archaeology, UCL. Th e Richard Khalili Lecture Th eatre, SOAS. T (Lecture) Organised by: Th e www.mbifoundation.com Barnett Memorial Lecture. 020 7898 4330/4490 E vp6@soas.

NEW IN THE YEZIDIS PAPERBACK The History of a Community, Culture and Religion Birgül Açikyildiz

Will probably long remain the definitive work on Yezidi material culture.’ – Martin van Bruinessen, Utrecht University

‘A fascinating narrative and photographic journey through Yezidi religion, society and material culture.’ - Nelida Fuccaro, SOAS, University of London

In an accessible and readable style, Açikyildiz’s book examines the Yezidis from a religious point of view and as a historical and social phenomenon. She throws light on the origins of Yezidism, and charts its development and changing fortunes from its beginnings to the present Extensively illustrated, with maps, photographs and illustrations, this pioneering book is a testimonial to one of the region’s most extraordinary and ancient peoples.

www.ibtauris.com 320 pages 216 x 134mm 9781784532161 Paperback £14.99

December 2014 – January 2015 The Middle East in London 29 Landscapes. Admission free. Khalili Lecture Th eatre, SOAS. T 020 7898 4330/4490 E vp6@soas. ac.uk W www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/ events/ EXHIBITIONS

Until 19 December | Songs of the Deserts A celebration of the desert in mosaic, calligraphy and storytelling. Artists: Elaine M Goodwin (mosaic), Mohamed Abaoubida (calligraphy), and author Richard Hamilton. Admission free. Th e Street Gallery, Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter, Stocker Road, Exeter EX4 4ND. E [email protected] W http:// socialsciences.exeter.ac.uk/iais/ events/exhibitions/

Until 19 December | What Remains - Part II A group exhibition about memory: an idea, an impression, a feeling; a poem; an image; a glimpse of what we have seen, heard, or read; what struck us as important then or now. What is lasting and what is transient, and about the artists’ contribution to their local and global culture. Admission free. Rose Issa Projects, 82 Great Portland Street, London W1W 7NW. T 020 7323 1710 E info@ roseissa.com W www.roseissa. com

Until 22 February | Cairo Bita Ghezelayagh, "Talismanic Fragments" felt, carpet, wire, screws, silken thread, print, old pen nibs, iron, to Constantinople: Early 113X113cm (2014). What Remains - Part II (See Exhibtions, p. 30) Photographs of the Middle East Seen through the photographs of ac.uk W www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/ in Persian Poetry, Classical Friday 23 January Francis Bedford (1815-94) this events/ and Modern (Lecture) Ahmad exhibition follows the journey Karimi-Hakkak, University of 7:00 pm | Olcay Bayir: Anatolian taken by the Prince of Wales (later 6:30 pm | Bahrain's Election Maryland and SOAS. Annual Song Sketches (Concert) Part of King Edward VII) in 1862, as Boycott: Lessons from Kuwait Departmental Lecture and Second the SOAS Concert Series. Olcay he undertook a four month tour (Lecture) Kristin Diwan. Leverhulme Lecture. Admission Bayir sings her own contemporary around the Middle East. Tickets: Organised by: LSE Middle East free. DLT, SOAS. E events@soas. compositions to original Various. Th e Queen's Gallery, Centre. Diwan asks whether the ac.uk W www.soas.ac.uk/about/ arrangements of traditional folk Buckingham Palace, London recent parliamentary elections in events/ songs from across the region SW1A 1AA. T 020 7766 7334 W Bahrain - boycotted by the political 7:00 pm | Persian art and of Anatolia and . www.royalcollection.org.uk opposition - will contribute architecture in fi ft eenth-century Admission free. Brunei Gallery to stability and democratic Deccan with Peyvand Firouzeh Lecture Th eatre, SOAS. T 020 Until 29 March | Poetry and exile: advancement, drawing lessons & Persian Constitutionalism in 7898 4500 E musicevents@soas. works by Abdallah Benanteur, Ipek from Kuwait's recent experience. the 1920s with Nathaniel Rees ac.uk W www.soas.ac.uk/concerts Duben, Mireille Kassar, Mona Saudi Admission free. Room 2.02, (Lecture) Organised by: Th e and Canan Tolon Display drawn Clement’s House, LSE. T 020 7955 Iran Society. Student Lectures. Tuesday 27 January from recent acquisitions of works 6520 E [email protected] W Admission free for Society by artists of the Middle East and www.lse.ac.uk/middleEastCentre/ members and one guest. Pall Mall 5:45 pm | Title TBC (Lecture) North Africa at the British Museum, Room, Th e Army & Navy Club, 36- Organised by: London Middle East explores the eff ects of exile through 39 Pall Mall, London SW1Y 5JN Institute, SOAS (LMEI). Part of the the eyes of fi ve artists. See exhibition Wednesday 21 January (Dress code calls for gentlemen to LMEI's Tuesday Evening Lecture review pp. 15-16. Admission free. wear jacket and tie). T 020 7235 Programme on the Contemporary Room 34, BM. T 020 7323 8299 E 5:00 pm | Continuity and 5122 E [email protected] W Middle East, Th e Middle East - [email protected] W Creativity: Models of Change www.iransociety.org Changing Economic and Political www.britishmuseum.org

30 The Middle East in London December 2014 – January 2015 FROM PERSEPOLIS TO ISFAHAN SAFEGUARDING CULTURAL HERITAGE

AN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE TO DISCUSS THE CULTURAL HERITAGE OF IRAN

16-18 JANUARY 2015

ASIA HOUSE 63 NEW CAVENDISH STREET LONDON W1G 7LP

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO BOOK TICKETS PLEASE VISIT WWW.IRANHERITAGE.ORG ORGANISED BY IRAN HERITAGE FOUNDATION & THE SOUDAVAR MEMORIAL FOUNDATION, WITH SUPPORT FROM THE BRITISH INSTITUTE OF PERSIAN STUDIES

December 2014 – January 2015 The Middle East in London 31 (International) in the United Kingdom Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations

MA in Muslim Cultures

Based in central London, the Aga Khan University Institute for the January Study of Muslim Civilisations two-year MA Programme: • Offers a distinctive way of understanding Muslim civilisations as they have 15 evolved over time. Virtual Open Day: • Stresses the plurality and complexity of past and present Muslim cultures, 15 January 2015 studying them as part of world cultures. 12.00-13.00 • Employs the tools of the social sciences and humanities as a framework for learning. February Within the disciplines of the social sciences and humanities our students study a number of subjects including development studies, economics, political science, gender, modernity and globalisation, history, literature, material culture, comparative 27 religion and law; students are also required to study either Arabic, Persian or Turkish Application and undertake an intensive four-week language course abroad. Deadline: Financial assistance is available. 27 February 2015

For further information and to register for the open day visit: www.aku.edu/ismc 32 The Middle East in London December 2014 – January 2015