Join us at Blitz for a public talk and social gathering to welcome Zahra Al-Mahdi to the Blitz Residency programme.
Zahra Al-Mahdi is an English Literature graduate from Kuwait University, College of Arts. She is a visual artist, writer, graphic novelist, and filmmaker with notable presence in the Kuwaiti creative community. Her debut graphic novel is titled We, The Borrowed. Zahra is currently working on a web miniseries titled Bird Watch, while also completing a Masters in Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies at Kuwait University.
During her one month residency in Malta, Zahra will explore the role of memory in rethinking the national historical narrative of citizenry, gender roles and sexuality in Kuwait. As memory stems from an individual consciousness and a collective agency, it is a juncture between the private and the public; the personal and the political. The focus of her work will be on the counter-memories of mobile identities such as transsexual and transgender citizens, by forming points of connection with Maltese multicultural constructs. Her findings will take the form of video installation, a mobility map and models built from animation, sketches, found material, photographs, mixed media images, and other materials.