After an incredible response to the Young Shubbak artist call-out for Bayti Baytek (My Home Is Your Home), we are happy to announce our second artist pairing. Enkidu Khaled and Nada Elkalaawy have been assigned The Kitchen as a prompt for their Bayti Baytek collaboration.
Here's more from them about their practice and experiences during quarantine.
Enkidu Khaled
Enkidu Khaled is an Iraqi theatre-maker and performer based in Belgium. We were delighted to welcome him to our 2019 festival.
Enkidu grew up in Baghdad and studied theatre at the Institute of Fine Arts. He worked in cinema and has contributed to Mohamed Al Daradji’s films. After leaving Baghdad against his will in 2008, he settled in Belgium. His solo performance Working Method (presented at The Gate, Shubbak 2019) is based on traumatic events he witnessed in the past. He invites the audience to join him in analysing and simplifying the complex process of making theatre from personal experience. In doing so, he shows how memory, association and tiny fragments of ideas can become a story and how simple decisions can have devastating effects
Nada Elkalaawy
Nada Elkalaawy is an Egyptian painter, visual artist and animator based in the UK.
She grew up between Egyptian and British cultures.
Her personal history is her primary material dealing with loss, fiction and traces of memories.
She often alludes to family photo archives that span three generations, mixing them with found footage and photos she takes herself to dream up ideal worlds, shape recollections and question what should be retained or lost.
What three words best describe your practice?
Observation. Reflection. Straightforwardness.
What three words best describe your practice?
Photographs. Fragmented narratives. Hiraeth.
What are you working on at the moment?
I am working on a theatre project under the working title The Interview God 99, based on the novel by Hassan Blasim and in co-production with KAAI Theater Brussels.
What drew you to this opportunity?
The creation of a collaborative project with other artists and staying connected provides hope during these dark times. I have found it incredibly hard to stay positive or productive since the start of the pandemic. It's made me realise how making is vital for my survival.
Tell us about a pivotal moment in your career.
During my MA studies in Amsterdam, when I managed to shift being labelled as a refugee artist to an experimental artist.
Tell us about your artistic practice.
The painterly medium together with drawing, animation and tapestry allow me to express how I feels about the in-between territory I inhabit, and provide me with nuanced reflections.
Do you have any advice for young artists navigating quarantine?
Observation - it’s a fundamental tool for any creation process. There is no harm in using the time to observe everything and anything in stillness and interiority.
How can artists of your generation feel supported at the moment?
Even though this time can be unsettling and tough, I truly believe that great art can emerge from the pandemic just like art has survived many crises in the past.