The Nightingale’s Prayer: One of the Best Egyptian Films Ever Made
The Nightingale’s Prayer – or Do’aa el Karawan – is an icon of Egyptian Cinema’s Golden age. Mayra Nassef writes about its strong female characters and its pioneering feminist themes that address gender inequality and cultures of shame.
Daftar Digest
We select the best from the Arab world each month, and put it in your inbox.
Curated Recommendations
Every time a guest joins us on one of our podcast series, they leave us with breadcrumbs to further explore some of the topics that they covered in the episode. Browse through some of the best recommendations for films, books, and music from the Arab world.
Staff Pick: Podcast Episode
Sonja Mejcher-Atassi
We did a deep dive into this episode of our This Is Not a Watermelon podcast with the author of "An Impossible Friendship: Group Portrait, Jerusalem Before and After 1948," professor Sonja Mejcher-Atassi.
Tsawwar
Tsawwar is a visual series enclosed monthly in our Daftar Digest and explores the stories behind a photograph taken in the region or by an Arab photographer.
“Islamic Art: Mirror of the Invisible World” at the Louvre Abu Dhabi
A recap of a panel about Islamic Arts that our founder and executive director, Mikey Muhanna, hosted at the Louvre Abu Dhabi. Featuring panelists Fakhera Al Kindi, eL Seed and Suheyla Takesh delving into Islamic arts – traditional and contemporary – and much more.
Finding Palestine in Michigan: On Painter Samia Halaby
Rachel Winter writes about her experience unearthing the story of iconic artist Samia Halaby in Michigan. Image credit: Shanti Knight.
Jewad Selim: Founder of Modern Iraqi Art
A look at the life and art of Jewad Selim — an Iraqi painter and sculptor who was considered one of the founders of modern art in Iraq. Image via The National News.
Curating an Artist's (and Parent's) Biography
This blog dives further into the lives and artwork of Amine El Bacha, Paul Guiragossian and Saloua Raouda Choucair. Three leading artists of Lebanon’s art world, they were the focus of a Moving Biographies podcast episode entitled “Curating an artist’s (and parent’s) biography” — which featured a conversation between Mahita El Bacha Urieta, Manuella Guiragossian and Hala Schoukair — daughters of each artist respectively.
Four Iconic Women Artists From the Arab World
Introducing four key women artists from the Arab World as featured in the Moving Biographies podcast series “On Women By Women in Art”.
Arab Artists and Modern Art Books You’ll Want to Know About
Highlights from our conversation with Dr Ridha Moumni and Sultan Al-Qassemi about “Kawkaba: Highlights from the Barjeel Foundation” on all the best artists and art books that you’ll want to know about.
QUARTERTONES MIXAPE“I want to represent some of the music of today that will be the past archive of tomorrow." DJ, producer and composer Jihed Khmiri (aka Pan-J) compiled an all-Tunisian mixtape for us this month.
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