I’m Migrant
I’m Migrant developed organically, beginning with unstructured interviews and photo essays conducted with Arab artists in Europe. Filming candid conversations and walkthroughs of their studios, these artists speak about their work and their experience of life away from their countries of birth. Exploring the responsibility that comes with representing the heritage of our forefathers, we aim to showcase the contribution and influence of these artists on their adopted countries.
Thus far, the footage has been cut into short episodes. Episode one features Ghani Alani. Episode two, ‘Mesopotamia’, features Yasin Nabeel and his collaborations with Dia Azzawi. Episodes three and four feature the painters Afifia Aleiby and Faisal Al-Laiby respectively.
This footage, along with photographic portraits of the artists, was shown to great effect against examples of these artists work at Bermondsey Project Space in April 2023.
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Ghani proffers a calligram
Ghani Alani
Artist and intellectual, born Baghdad, Iraq, 1937, Ghani Alani studied law in Baghdad and Paris, and Art at the Institute of Fine Arts, Baghdad, and the University of Paris VII.
Ghani practiced calligraphy from an early age and studied under the Iraqi master calligrapher Hashem Muhammad al-Baghdadi. He received a calligraphy diploma (Ijaz) in 1967 and awarded a second Ijaz (1975) by Hamid al-Amidi of the Ottoman calligraphy school.
Having completed a law doctorate, he dedicated himself to calligraphy. He was appointed head of calligraphy at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure, Paris from 1993, and participated in a number of conferences and television programmes on Arabic calligraphy. He also authored several works, including Calligraphie Arabe (2001), an overview of the world and history of arabic calligraphy.
Ghani has been exhibited widely in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.
