Turath Bel Arabi: Heritage through Crafts and Design

Crafts form a key component of tangible and intangible heritage around the world, and the Arab world is rich in craft traditions, from architecture to boatbuilding, to multifunctional objects. Historically craft processes and craft production structures were part of the glue that bound societies together. Today, in contemporary society, many crafts must find new relevance and new meaning to survive as valuable components of a society, not just as the legacy of a bygone age.

In this webinar, focusing on three different craft initiatives from the Arab world we shed light on valuable examples of individuals and organisations that address the challenge of ensuring that crafts have real meaning in contemporary society.

About the speakers:

Nada Osman Alaeddine
A cultural development and heritage expert who joined Turquoise Mountain in Saudi Arabia in 2017 where she has helped build a national network of trainers, artisans and partners to support the growth of the Kingdom’s crafts sector. Working closely a number of governmental bodies, Nada has assembled and spearheaded a creative team to document and record local heritage, and particularly crafts traditions, while bridging the gap between designers, craftsmen and women, and the marketplace. Nada started Rawafed which was the first project in Syria to focus on culture and heritage as a catalyst for socioeconomic development throughout the country, and also worked on a number of cultural projects elsewhere in Syria. Nada has an M.A in Intercultural Relations, Culture and Tourism from the Université de Paris III, Sorbonne Nouvelle. She endeavours to constantly create and innovate through her work, and through her personal hobbies and passions, including starting her own concept space, Atelier 79.

Rashad Salim 
Iraqi-German artist and researcher whose work engages with the history and development of culture and technology, as reflected in ancient boats, vernacular architecture, textiles and craft heritage. He is a member of the Selim family, noted as pioneers of the modern art movement in Iraq. In 1977-78, as a young crew member on Thor Heyerdahl’s Tigris expedition, he voyaged on a reed bundle boat from Iraq around the Arabian Peninsula to Djibouti, and in 2013 travelled along the Tigris from Southern Turkey to the Marshes of Southern Iraq. As part of his wider work that concentrates on the region of Mesopotamia, since 2015 Rashad has worked to document and protect the endangered material culture of Iraq, particularly its traditional boats, and to revive them through initiatives including the Iraqi Heritage Boat Clubs Network. With Safina Projects, he presented Ark Re-imagined: the Expeditionary Pavilion as Iraq’s national participation in the Biennale Architettura 2021.

Sara Ouhaddou
Artist living and working between Morocco and France. She was born in France into a traditional Moroccan family, where she studied at the École Olivier De Serres, Paris.Her upbringing in a dual culture setting informs her practice as a continuous dialogue. She strikes a balance between traditional Moroccan art forms and the conventions of contemporary art, aiming to place forgotten cultural continuities of artistic creation into new perspectives. She works in situ, producing works based on encounters with communities, craftsmen and researchers, while exploring heritage sites and objects. Each of her works is a project of learning, exchange of knowledge and intimate or universal stories. Sara has participated in a large number of exhibitions and residencies across Europe and the Arab world. She is represented by the Polaris Gallery, Paris.

The webinar will be moderated by Seif El Rashidi from The Barakat Trust, and Dr May al-Ibrashy from Megawra Built Environment Collective.

This session is the 5th in an 8 part series of webinars focusing on the preservation of heritage in the Arab World. It has been made possible through the generous support of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture’s Education Department.

This session will be in Arabic.

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