Friday, June 7th at 6:30pm, ISSUE partners with Arab.AMP and 2020 Suzanne Fiol Curatorial Fellow (SFCF) Leyya Mona Tawil to present the sixth installment in her NOMADIC SIGNALS series, Journey From Gaza to Brooklyn, featuring composer Huda Asfour alongside poet and performer Farah Barqawi. The evening will begin with a reception at 6pm, followed by a presentation of work and Q&A moderated by the curator. NOMADIC SIGNALS is a vessel for sonic performance operating in what Tawil refers to as the “diasporic imaginary,” a description of how sounds change in the diaspora: how they tether to their environment, accumulate, synthesize, and adapt at each location.
After recently sharing the stage to perform words, tunes, stories and songs, Asfour and Barqawi - lifelong friends united by sisterhood and shared histories - have been living a revival of their first moments together back in Gaza City. Learning songs and performing them together on their stage from middle school (the “Latin Patriarchate School'', aka Dier Al-Latine as it was called), they have been expanding their work right in front of the church that is now housing hundreds of displaced people.
This Summer, the unique environment of ISSUE’s 22 Boerum Pl. theater provides an ideal laboratory for experimentation, where the audience can experience projects in-process. In service of our community, ISSUE invites artists to engage with a space in transition, and to question infrastructural and curatorial boundaries.
Notes from the artists on Journey from Gaza to Brooklyn:
We are looking forward to reviving more of our shared history and stories, processing our thoughts and feelings, and reinterpreting them in a duo form; adding up Huda’s oud tunes, musical compositions and songs, and Farah’s poetry, prose, and vocals, to weave a shared narrative of a life shaped by borders, wars and displacement, as well as by collective joy and resistance. Despite beginning with the duo, our narrative is not ours alone. It shall and does expand to contain other stories and voices, seeking to restore love, hope, and liberation from the dark.
Huda Asfour is a firm believer in transcending boundaries, evident in her roles as a musician and educator. Her musical journey began early in conservatories in Tunisia and Palestine, culminating in collaborations worldwide. With two studio albums, "Mars... Back and Forth" (2011) and "Kouni" (2018), to her credit, Huda has also composed music for film and multimedia projects, and has collaborated and featured with musicians internationally. Currently, she's delving into the art of improvisation, with a keen focus on the intricate nuances of Arabic musical aesthetics and its interplay with language. In addition to her musical pursuits, Huda holds a B.Sc and a PhD in Electrical Engineering from George Washington University and is a co-founder of several initiatives such as the DC Palestinian Film and Arts Festival, and the Cairo and Brooklyn improv orchestras. Explore her work at hudaasfour.com.
Farah Barqawi is a Palestinian author, performer, educator and a feminist organizer. Her poetry and essays have appeared in multiple languages on online platforms and anthologies. In 2019, she produced and hosted a season of the Arabic podcast Eib (Shame). She wrote and performed her solo piece, “Baba, Come to Me.” She is the co-founder of two feminist projects: Wiki Gender and The Uprising of Women in the Arab World. She is a MFA candidate in Creative Writing at NYU, where she also teaches creative writing to undergraduates. @farah_barqawi_
Leyya Mona Tawil is an artist, curator, and cultural activist. She works in sound, dance, and hybrid performance. Tawil is a Syrian, Palestinian, American engaged in the world as such. She is the director of Arab.AMP - a platform for experimental music, live art, and ideas from the SWANA diaspora and our allied communities. Tawil is on the curatorial team of the Arab American National Museum (Dearborn) and also directs TAC Temescal Art Center (Oakland). In 2020, Tawil was ISSUE’s SFCF. During the fellowship, and in the following years, she presented the NOMADIC SIGNALS series. Tawil is now a member of the organization’s Artistic Advisory Council.
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