Here we are today with the publication of the fourth booklet, AtWork Cairo Chapter 04, which tells the experience of the workshop that took place at Darb 1718 in December 2015 through images, interview and ideas.
To develop new forms of reality it’s necessary to produce traces that testify to their existence and at the same time ensure that they can be replicable. That’s why we are very happy to share with you today the booklet dedicated to AtWork Cairo: the fourth chapter of the series that collect the traces of AtWork’s path during these last years. “If we don’t tell our stories, nobody else will” is the slogan of Maisha Foundation, our AtWork Kampala partner, which we have also adopted in the course of our journey.
We believe that it’s necessary to build these small paper houses where we can collect the stories one by one, as they unravel in the tangles of our network of young creative talents. Every booklet will become the vehicle and the discovery tool for whomever will lay their hands on it.
AtWork Cairo Chapter 04 is the fourth volume of our small AtWork series, which follows the booklets produced for Dakar, Abidjan and Kampala. These 64 pages trace the experience of 16 local young creative talents that have participated to the workshop titled “Something Else”, the name taken after the Cairo Off Biennale that hosted the initiative.
In the social context of Cairo where the freedom of expression is constantly threatened, AtWork was an opportunity to come together to speak and think freely, search for new artistic and social perspectives on the world; a way to question one’s certainties, step out of one’s comfort zones, seek alternative routes off the beaten track, and overcome pre-established schemes. Indeed, to aspire to something else.
Together with the images and words, that summarize the collective experience lived by the participants, the booklet contains three important interviews with the workshop protagonists: the one with our advisor and workshop leader Simon Njami, the one with the prominent artist Moataz Nasreldin, also the founder of Darb 1718 and the one with Youssef Limoud, an established Egyptian artist who was also part of the Cairo Off Biennale. The artist and assistant professor of the American University in Cairo Heba Amin, who has facilitated the workshop, has written a piece on her AtWork experience for Why Africa?, which we are re-publishing in this booklet.
Now is the moment to leave you to discover this new chapter for yourself. You can leaf through the entire booklet here. Enjoy your reading!
Claude Bunny Massassa is a contemporary artist from Gabon. She created Bunny Studio in 2016, a start-up dedicated to photography production, which became DWABI Studio in 2021. As an artist, she has represented Gabon in many international exhibitions in Senegal, Uganda, France, the United States, and Italy. In her art, she denounces social stigmas around issues of identity and mental health, and explores themes of traditions and myths.
Executive Director Kimberly Aceves- Iñiguez has been passionately committed for over 20 years to social justice organizing and advocacy efforts that bring voice and power to youth, LGBTQ people, people of color, and working-class communities in the Bay Area. Before coming on as the Executive Director for RYSE, Kimberly served as the Executive Director for Youth Together, the founding organization of the RYSE Center.
Kanwarpal Dhaliwal is one of the co-founders of RYSE and currently acts as the Associate Director. She supports and guides the implementation and integration of healing-centered practices, grounded in racial justice and liberation, and also develops, promotes, and advocates for policies, investments, practices, and research that enliven healing, justice, and liberation. Kanwarpal believes that the purpose of her work and life is to contribute to movements, communities, and legacies of liberation that honor the ancestors who fought for her existence and survival, and to forge a world that is just and gentle for future generations.
Sagal Ali is the founder and executive director of SAF. After a few years in her career in heritage protection in the cultural sector, she decided to develop the initiative to directly support young creatives in Somalia by launching her own foundation. She hopes to bridge the social gaps and inequalities women face in Somalia, both in society and in the arts scene.
Co-founders Catherine Dunga and Marleen Palmaers created Kitambo to bridge the gap between the African diaspora in Colombia and the narratives from the continent. From Kinshasa and Antwerp respectively, they work to connect African artists from the continent and their peers from the Colombian diaspora.
Martha Kazungu is a curator, art Historian and Founder of Njabala Foundation, an organization that curates periodic exhibitions and organizes a public program of activities to create a safe space for female artists to thrive and blossom.
Alicia Hansen is a photographer and teacher from New York. She founded NYC SALT in 2008 and, beyond teaching valuable creative skills to her students, has developed a long-term support system to uplift them through school and into their early artistic careers.
