There's no place like 'home'
As Liverpool Arab Arts Festival returns this weekend, its creative producer Toufik Douib reveals details of its visual arts programme
Home is a concept that transcends cultures. We all have an idea of home inside us. Each one is individual, shaped by our personal experiences, yet it’s something everyone has in common. A strong theme then for this year’s Liverpool Arab Arts Festival, and one that permeates its two interlinked visual arts exhibitions - The Refuge and The Other Refuge.
Taking place at John Moores University’s Exhibition Research Lab Gallery, The Refuge showcases the work of contemporary photography artists from across the diaspora. Together the works reflect on different ideas of ‘home’ in the context of today’s Arabness - some rooted to a particular place, others connected to family and sociocultural heritage, some shaped by memories.
Meanwhile, The Other Refuge looks at ‘belonging’ through the wide-ranging perspectives of UK-based artists of Arab origin, from Sudan, Syria and Yemen, who have experienced displacement.
Toufik Douib, creative producer (international) at Liverpool Arab Arts Festival, says: “Whether they are based in the region or they live and work there, or whether they are part of the diaspora, the artists have different perspectives of what home means to them, and by extension to their communities or people within the same journey as them.
