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Founded by Egyptian filmmaker Hayat Aljowaily, ‘Kalam Aflam’ is spotlighting emerging Arab artists in Paris.
As Egyptian and Arab artists continue to explore new mediums and voices around the world, experimenting with themes rooted in their respective local identities, one Egyptian filmmaker in France found herself yearning for a community, and so she became a host for one. With a belief in the power of the collective, Hayat Aljowaily founded ‘Kalam Aflam’, a space for emerging Arab artists in Paris and beyond.
‘Kalam Aflam’ launched its first event this May at Point Ephemere, Paris, under the theme ‘Coming of Age’, which hosted a series of art installations, short films and musical performances centring around the same theme. “This is a project that I was dying to make happen for three years, and so the theme ‘Coming of Age’ felt very fitting for our first event,” Hayat Aljowaily tells CairoScene. “It – or we – are something that is ‘becoming’.”
Like many Arabs in the diaspora, Aljowaily can sometimes feel like her experience isn’t Western enough or Arab enough. Within the folds of ‘Kalam Aflam’, however, she looks to surround herself with artists who share in her experiences.
“As an Arab artist living abroad, one always feels like they’re in between. But when you’re part of a community of people who look like you or have similar experiences, it changes everything,” Aljowaily says. “It was so refreshing to be in a space where I’m not the only Arab woman, my friends had to look around within a sea of familiar faces to spot me.”
Through an upcoming series of public arts and cultural events, ‘Kalam Aflam’ offers up a space for self-expression and a blossoming creative narrative for those on the lookout for a home. Aljowaily and her partners, Palestinian communications specialist Abood Al Bakri and Lebanese art director Katja Kanaan, continue to open doors for emerging voices, carving out a space for themselves while spotlighting stories waiting to be told.
Back in 1729, the Parisian authorities introduced the French capitals iconic blue-and-green street name plaques, topped with a little “Napoleon’s hat” containing the number of the street’s arrondissement.
The plaques honor France and the world’s leading politicians, philosophers, artists, writers, and scientists, including a number associated with the Arab world. French President Emmanuel Macron has previously proposed renaming some of the capital’s streets to include more personalities from ethnic minorities, but that has not yet happened. Still, there are enough Arab names to comprise a walking tour around Paris — including a president, a poet, a pop star and more.
With a wonderful view of the Grand Palais, this large, peaceful stretch of greenery is named after independent Tunisia’s first president, Habib Bourguiba. The secular leader was in charge between 1957 and 1987, and was famously a supporter of women’s rights. Next to his plaque, there is a bronze bust of the leader looking towards the River Seine, with his name written in Arabic underneath.
An admirer of Bourguiba, Halimi was a Tunisian-born French lawyer, feminist, and former member of the National Assembly in France. She died in 2020, aged 93, and this sloping pathway was named after her last year. Halimi’s life of hardships shaped the respected career she had. When she was born, her father hid her — ashamed of her gender. She went on a hunger strike at 10 and, at 16, rejected an arranged marriage, going on to study law in Paris. Halimi is perhaps best known for a 1972 trial, in which she defended a minor who had an abortion after being raped. It was a key event that propelled the country into legalizing abortion in 1975.
Paris mayor Bertrand Delanoe (second from right) and Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas (second from left) unveil on June 14, 2010 in Paris the new Mahmoud Darwich esplanade named after the Palestinian poet who died Aug. 9, 2008. (AFP)
In 2010, just two years after the death of Palestine’s most famous poet Mahmoud Darwish, a square in Paris was inaugurated in his honor. Known for his writings on home, memory, and exile, Darwish spent many years outside of his native land. He lived in Beirut, Cairo, Tunis, and Paris. He had a special connection with the latter, describing it as the place where his “true poetic birth” happened. The plaque is situated in a district the poet reportedly liked, on the banks of the Seine and near the classical buildings of Institut de France and Monnaie de Paris.
A few minutes away from Notre Dame Cathedral stands an unassuming but sobering reminder of how an Arab collective suffered during the turbulent Sixties. In 1961, when Algeria was seeking independence, a group of Algerian protesters were attacked by the police and some of their bodies were thrown into the Seine. In 2021, to mark the 60th anniversary of this horrific event, Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo inaugurated a memorial artwork, made of metal with silhouettes of heads carved out, in remembrance of those who lost their lives.
Between 1962 and 1987, the blonde bombshell diva Dalida, who was born to Italian parents in Egypt, lived in this four-story townhouse in hilly Montmartre, a quiet area outside of the bustling city center of the city that is historically associated with artists. Dalida sang in a variety of languages, including French, Italian, and Arabic. “Salma Ya Salama” and “Helwa Ya Baladi” are some of her most loved Arabic songs. Sadly, it was in this house that she committed suicide in 1987, as a result of tragedies in her personal life. The plaque on her house reads: “Her friends from Montmartre will not forget her.”
The acclaimed Lebanese-born poet and philosopher — and author of “The Prophet” — Khalil Gibran is well-known as a member of the Arab diaspora in 20th-century America. But he also lived in France for a time. Between 1908 and 1910, Gibran, who was then in his twenties, studied painting at Académie Julian in Paris. His stay in the city was made possible by the financial backing of American philanthropist, editor and Gibran’s lover Mary Haskell, who was 10 years his senior.
source/content: arabnews.com (headline edited)
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A memorial to remember the 1961 attack on Algerian protesters by the police in Paris. (Supplied)
