This workshop is related to the exhibition ‘An Ocean in Every Drop’

As part of her long-term practice on Palestinian folk tales and their connection to landscape and water sources, artist Jumana Emil Abboud will be leading a participatory workshop exploring natural water sources in Dubai and the wider U.A.E. Through discussions, collective readings and writing exercises, workshop participants will contribute to the co-authorship of  a story of water; thinking through both personal histories and relationships to sites of water as well as tackling broader questions of humanity’s entanglement with ‘the natural’. 

Water divining- the ancient art of locating natural sources of water- is the conceptual driver for this workshop series, where storytelling is used to locate sites of water geographically, historically and culturally.

The workshop series will culminate in a performance based on the co-authored texts and imaginaries, to be performed collectively at selected sites of water on Sunday, January 15th 2023.

The initial meeting for the workshops will take place at the Jameel Arts Centre, continuing online approximately every two weeks. Please note this is a series of workshops and participants are expected to commit to the full series. 

Session will be led in English but writings can be in a language of choice

Jumana Emil Abboud uses drawing, video, performance and text to navigate themes of memory, loss, and resilience. Her creative practice is inspired by Palestinian oral history, with a focus on folktales and their connection to actual sites within the landscape, and to water sources in particular. Abboud lives and works in Jerusalem and London where she is currently a PhD candidate at Slade School of Art.

The dates, times and locations of the workshops are as follows:

Saturday 10 September, 2022 Online, 11am-3pm with lunch break

Saturday 1 October, 2022 Online 3pm-5pm

Tuesday 11 October, 2022 Online 6-8pm

Saturday 29 October, 2022 Online 3pm- 5pm

Saturday 19 November, 2022 Jameel Arts Centre and offsite waterfront area 11am- 5pm with break. Lunch provided.

Saturday 10 December, 2022 Online 6pm- 8pm

Saturday 14 January, 2023 Jameel Arts Centre 1pm- 7pm with break. Lunch provided.

Sunday 15 January, 2023 Jameel Arts Centre afternoon/early evening. Performance.