sorry for being shit at news!

Dear people who look at other people’s websites: I am sorry to be very bad at updating this “news section” of my website and relatively crappy at self-promotion. The world does not need more self-promoters. Those of you who are registered to receive my newsletter will also realise that I send those once or twice a year. But I do regularly add the “upcoming shows” on each project page. In bullet points, here are some updates from the past year:

• I continue to tour Gardens Speak. It has been touring across the world since 2014, and receiving the nicest feedback. I am grateful for everyone who has worked on the piece, hosted it, and experienced it. It’s the project closest to my heart. You can read the latest review in The New York Times. I was very pleased that Gardens Speak showed in Lebanon at the beautiful Station Beirut during Spring Festival. L’Orient Le Jour kindly chose it/me as one of  “The 16 who made 2016.”

• I am also touring another show, As Far As My fingertips Take Me. It is performed by my lovely friend Basel Zaraa. It is currently showing in Chile (Teatro A Mil) and then going to London (The Mosaic Rooms), Bristol (IBT Festival), and other places that I will announce soon.

• Also touring are some projects created as part of Dictaphone Group. Abir Saksouk and I from Dictaphone Group recently created a video installation called Camp Pause with four residents of Rachidieh Palestinian refugee camp in South of Lebanon. We wrote a piece about it in Jadaliyya. The installation was commissioned by and shown at Dar el-Nimr in Beirut. In April 2017, it will be showing in Houston as part of CounterCurrent Festival. Please follow Dictaphone Group (website and Facebook) if you want to stay in touch with our projects.
• I was listed as one of the Good100 of 2016, a grouping of people from all over the world whose work Good Magazine claims changed the world. I did not mention this before, but my parents were really happy about it! The magazine also published this feature about my work (written by Natalie Shooter featuring cool photos by Roland Ragi.)
• Publication Updates: Gardens Speak is now a book published by Tadween Publishing and designed by Nadine Bekdache. Copies are available online, on show tours, and in few independent bookshops in Beirut. I also published articles or interviews in Performance Research Journal, Kohl Journal, LADA Study Room, Ibraaz, Kamel Lazaar Foundation, Documenting Intimacy, Performing Borders, and Ex-Nunc.
  
• Workshop Updates: I co-created a workshop-based project with the brilliant Abigail Conway called Female Armed Forces. I also mentored a group of exciting artists from across Europe who met in Bucharest for the Biennial For Emerging Arts, invited by the fierce Ioana Paun.
• I recently spoke at “Cities As Community Spaces” in Valetta and absolutely fell in love with Malta! Watch this space for exciting news re Malta, and another exciting project that will take place in Tunis, another Mediterranean beauty.