The Visitant
A subtle piece of free verse by Lorelei Bacht thinks about making a life and losing a life
A Conversation with Emirati Artist Nujoom Alghanem
One of the pioneering figures of UAE art history, Nujoom Alghanem speaks to our Visual Arts Editor about her evolution, practice, and new solo show in Sharjah
Two Poems
Two poems by Rabha Ashry watch a girl rebel against what is expected of her, playing with the ties that bind her to her bed, a boy, to God. With artwork by Zayn Qahtani
Kintsugi
Taken from her titular photo book “Kintsugi”, Polish artist Martyna Benedyka’s poetic black and white photographs are a reflection on self-repair
Two Poems
“Saturday morning my hair meets this drain” and “Not a snow day” are two poems by Tawanda Mulalu that reckon with loving, existing, belonging, and all the gaps in between
Accent Politics
In this personal essay, Zambian-born Mbiko Mayaka explores her relationship to language, touching on code switching and the manifestation of social hierarchy and inequalities on the tongue
What’s a vacation, Mr. Roque?
A trio of haiku in response to a statement by Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque that Filipinos are on vacation because of COVID-19
POST-COLONIAL SPORTZ TEAMS
David Straange pulls apart the colors, lines, and paradigms of typical sports logo branding, turning them into works of abstract art
On Artists and Institutional Stigma
What do artists and institutions truly want from each other? How can this relationship tread the tightrope between exploitation and care? Artist and creative practitioner Mays Albaik opens up the conversation in this essay
whatever you want to call me is fine
The question of pronouns should not be a question – Hannah Coakley distills a limpid sense of resistance in this new poem
Two Postcards
Two poems by Teresa Cherukara offer tiny, epistolary stories of love and travel in the UAE
How does it feel?
This issue’s cover star, Aurélie Guichard’s black and white photography series is a soft reflection on the past year
Two Poems
A duo of existential poems by Irish writer Kevin McDermott faces life's hardest's questions
Binocular Rivalry
A series of haunting landscape photographs taken in West Bengal, India, as part of Arindam Manna’s graduate thesis
A Transitory World
Filipina-Egyptian writer Farah Fawzi Ali’s formally experimental poem weaves through Arabic, Tagalog and English, road signs, pop songs, text messages and winding thoughts
Colors Shrine
تتعمق سيما آل عبد الحي في عملها “ضريح الألوان” عن القصة البشرية، العناصر الأربع: التراب والهواء والنار والماء و الاختلافات والتناقضات بينهم
Where were you?
Fiction editor Thirangie Jayatilake’s poem teems with a staccato rage at our current global state. With an accompanying image by Catalina Aranguren
Thinking about Thinking
Dubai-based barista Dennis Reynoso uses his camera to create connections between contemplative passersby and himself
Silent,
A pensive poem by Lorelei Bacht comes to terms with what lies ahead
Three Poems on Palestine
Abeer Alaloul’s collection of micro poems explores how Palestinians in the diaspora visualize their homeland