Artist Talk: Sulafa Hijazi / Golan Haji / Fadlabi – Globaliseringskonferansen

– Sulafa Hijazi – Syrian visual artist and director. Through her work in visual art and animation Sulafa Hijazi has created links, and uncovered existing ones, between seemingly different and unrelated topics – from identity to exile, passing through social media and the fine lines between the use and abuse of image. Among many other things, Sulafa will present her work and reflections on questions relating to the social media popular art movement, which not only allowed Syrian artists to circumvent censorship but also made their artwork accessible to a wider sector of the society; and how this artwork moved again from social media to art galleries.

– Golan Haji – Syrian poet and translator will perform a Syrian Reading of Homer’s Oddyssey: Syrians, in this tragic chaos, often listen to their own story invented by non-Syrians or reinvented for non-Syrians. What if the Odyssey was narrated by a Syrian poet from Idleb?

There will be time for the audience to ask questions and engage in a conversation with the artists! The conversations will be moderated by Fadlabi.

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Sulafa Hijazi (b. 1977, Syria)
Born in Damascus, Syria, Sulafa Hijazi is a Visual artist, Director and Producer. She studied at the Higher Institute of the dramatic arts in Syria where she majored in dramatic studies, and at the Städelschule Art Academy in Frankfurt Am Main, Germany, at the class of Judith Hopf. In addition to her artwork, Hijazi began her professional career as a writer and director of animation TV series and other film and media production, with a particular focus on children education and social development. In addition, she was a member of the founding team of Spacetoon the first free Arabic satellite channel for kids, and a board member of CIFEJ International Center of Films for Children and Young People since 2012. Hijazi has received several awards for her work, among them the golden prize in (Hollywood, Russia, India, Cairo, And iran international children and family film festivals) for her latest feature animation The Jasmine Birds. Hijazi’s artwork and illustration has been exhibited in several galleries in Europe and featured in social media newspapers and Internet websites as part of the Syrian uprising art movement.Golan Haji (b. 1977, Syria)
Is a Syrian poet and translator with a postgraduate degree in pathology. He was born in Amouda, a Kurdish town in the north of Syria. He has worked as a translator from English and American literature, and has translated Robert Louis Stevenson’s Scottish classic Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde into Arabic (2008), in addition to Dark Harbor , selected poems of Mark Strand (2002), Rear Window, scenario of Alfred Hitchcock’s movie (2005), Elephant by Dan Wylie (2010), Notebooks of Anton Chekhov (2011). His first collection of poetry in Arabic, Called in Darkness (2004), won the Al-Maghut prize in poetry. His second book of poetry, Someone Sees You as a Monster (2008), was published during the event celebrating Damascus as the Capital of culture in 2008. His next collection Autumn Here is Magical and Vast, in both Arabic and Italian,was published in Rome 2013. He lived in Damascus until he had to flee his country, and has now settled in France.Fadlabi (b. 1975, Sudan)
Works with painting, texts, and performance, emphasizing cross-disciplinary approaches to art making. In 2008, Fadlabi founded an artist-run platform One Night Only, a gallery in Oslo that shows a new artist every Monday. Possibly, Norway’s most busy gallery. Between 2010- 2014 he worked with artist Lars Cuzner on European Attraction Limited, a contemporary rendition of a human zoo named The Congo Village that was part of the 1914 World Fair in Oslo. They re-enacted the village and opened it to the public in May 2014. His recent and future shows includes Sharjah Biennial 11 (Sharjah), Bergen Assembly (Bergen)The Museum of Contemporary Art in (Oslo), Kunsthall (Oslo), UKS (Oslo), Munch museum (Oslo), Kunstplass (Oslo), NY Art-book fair (NY), Performa 15 NY (NY), Temporary Gallery (Cologne), Nile Sunset Annex (Cairo), Al Riwaq (Manamah), the Saudi Arts Council (Jeddah), Darat Al Funun (Amman), Townhouse (Cairo) IFAA (Lome). He is also the co-founder of the Khartoum Contemporary Art Center in Oslo that will open it’s doors in March 2017