Live Performance Art: I Am You
Brief:
The Other Story Project honors all the different accounts, emotions, fonts, genres, and voices in its collection. It joins Flow Exhibition in a circle, all equally aligned, to be part of the experience and to nourish the flow of narratives, the vulnerability, the growth, and the ‘aha’ moments.
Fifteen different stories from the project’s story-collection are selected to shape the life of our protagonist. His life story is thus the experiences of various individuals who shared their stories at different times throughout the lifespan of The Other Story Project. It is thus a melting pot of possibilities. It is us, and it is you.
The method used in script writing is inspired by the Undesirable Elements method of Ping Chong + Company, which is “an ongoing series of community-specific interview-based theater works examining issues of culture and identity.” The “Undesirable Elements” presents a chamber piece of storytelling that weaves individual experiences together in a chronological order; a “seated opera for the spoken word.”
Script Writer:
Fatima Al-Banawi, with reference to fifteen stories in the story collection of The Other Story Project.
Voice Coach:
Nada Al-Mojaddedi.
Performers:
Hakeem Jomah, Nadia Malaika, Bakor Al-Tayar, Sarah Taibah, Lujayn Al-Yamani, Summer Shesha, Ahmed Al-Mojadidi, and Fatima Al-Banawi.
Later joined the Arabic performance: Mohanna Tayeb, Bayan Jamal, and Saleem Al-Homsi.
Location:
With 37 participating artists, Flow Exhibition introduces to the art scene new emerging artists alongside established ones. It is co-curated by Qaswra Hafiz of Hafez Gallery and Noor Al-Dabbagh of Banafsajeel, at the Beydoun Exhibition Space in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Gallery:
Hafez Gallery + Banafsajeel
Dates:
February 2 – March 2, 2017
Performance Video Art: A Blink of an Eye
Brief:
As part of the project’s performance series, “A blink of an Eye” is a video performance piece that presents five stories from the collection, weaved together to address ordinary lives effected by different circumstances. Presenting them as ordinary lives is not an understatement, it is rather an open invitation to a realization of our shared humanity, and of a real and honest connection.
In the portrayed social, educational, existential, psychological, and political settings, we trace humans experiencing a great change in circumstances at a blink of an eye. Has your life ever been altered at a blink of an eye?
Idea and Direction: Fatima Al-Banawi
Script Writer: Fatima Al-Banawi, with reference to five stories from The Other Story Project collection
Artwork Name: A Blink of an Eye
Type: Video Installation
Narration & Performance: Fatima Al-Banawi
With special thanks to Director Ali Al-Sumayin, and Director of Photography Moath Al-Thaheri, for their unconditional support and dedication to this pursuit of human connection.
Locations:
Makan, a Private Cultural Diwan
Institut Du Monde Arabe
Galleries & Exhibitions:
Hafez Gallery, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
BIENALSUR – 1st Art Biennial of South America
Film Festival:
Festival des Cinéma Arabes
Dates:
- February 8 – March 8, 2018
- June 28 – July 8, 2018
- 2019
Solo Performance Art: Amours Saoudiennes
Brief:
Artist, project creator, and story collector Fatima Al-Banawi, conveys to Paris “Amours Saoudiennes,” in the project’s third performance piece, and the first to take place outside of the stories’ home base, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
In yet a new attempt to revive the celebrated Arab oral tradition, she invites her audience to a theatrical recital traveling through public and private spheres, communication barriers, and the notion of “having found and having lost,” around a chandelier of love stories.
Idea and Direction: Fatima Al-Banawi
Script Writer: Fatima Al-Banawi, with reference to five stories from The Other Story Project collection
Artwork Name: Amours Saoudiennes
Type: Solo Performance Art
Language: French and Arabic
Translation: Miloud Belataris & Paul Fargues
Narration & Performance: Fatima Al-Banawi
Locations:
Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
Exhibition:
Performance Art Festival: Do Disturb
Dates:
April 6 – April 9 2018
Café Pop-Up Performance: On the Seat Next to Me
Brief:
The last performance art piece follows the style of a flash-mob; it is an unannounced pop-up that travels around coffeeshops in town. This piece is a product of seven stories from the “Self-Reflection and Growth” theme, weaved together to voice dialogues with the self that could very possibly be the internal voices of those sipping coffee and sitting quietly in their corners. It aims to disrupt the atmosphere of public cafeterias and showcase the psychological and social ties that bring us closer to strangers on neighboring seats.
The movement is henceforth sudden, random and improvised, and it depends on the wishes of the performers (storytellers) to come closer and approach those around them through their stories.
Idea and Direction: Fatima Al-Banawi
Stories: The Other Story Project
Script Writer: Fatima Al-Banawi
Performers:
Abrar Azzouz, Hakeem Jomah, Abdulrhman Alaseri, Abdulwahab Nagro, Fatima_albanawi, Nada Almojadedi
Music:
Abdulrahman Ibraheim
Coffeeshops and Spaces where the pop-up took place: IT Café, Miraki Café, Alf Wad Creative Space
Starting Date: 27 October, 2018
