Nujoom Alghanem
b.Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 1962
Nujoom Alghanem is an Emirati poet, scriptwriter and award-winning director. She has produced several short fictions and documentaries. In addition to producing her own films, she is also a film, media and cultural consultant to educational and professional institutes and organisations in the UAE.
SHE IS WIDELY REGARDED
AS ONE OF THE BEST
MODERN EMIRATI POETS
ALIVE.
Education:
Bachelor’s in Video
Production, Ohio
University, USA (1996)
Master’s in Media Production,
School of Film, Griffith University,
Australia (1999)
SHE IS A BOARD MEMBER OF THE INTERNATIONAL PRIZE FOR ARABIC FICTION, MANAGED IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE BOOKER PRIZE FOUNDATION IN LONDON. SHE HAS ALSO BEEN INVOLVED AS HEAD OF JURY AND JURY MEMBER IN NUMEROUS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVALS
Poetry collection:
– Masaa Al Janah (Evening
of Heaven), 1989
– Al-Jarair (The
consequences), 1991
– Rawahel (Journeying), 1996
– Manazel Al-Jilnaar (Homes of
Pomegrante Blossoms), 2000
– La Wasf Lima Ana Feeh
(No Description for
What I Am In), 2005
– Malaikat Al -Ashwaaq Al-Baeeda
(Angels of Distant Longing), 2008
– Laylon Thaqeelon 3la Alayel
(Heavy Night on the Night), 2010
– Asqoto Fi Nafsi (I Fall
Into Myself) 2012
CURATORS OF THE NATIONAL PAVILION UAE AT THE 2019 VENICE BIENNALE, SAM BARDAOUIL AND TILL FELLRATH, HAVE INVITED AWARD-WINNING POET AND FILMMAKER NUJOOM ALGHANEM TO REPRESENT THE UAE WITH A MAJOR SITE-SPECIFIC VIDEO INSTALLATION COMMISSIONED FOR THE PAVILION.
This is the artist’s second time participating at the Venice Biennale. She previously participated in the Emirati Pavillion in 2017
Filmed in the UAE and Venice, the site-specific work Passage has been closely conceived and developed with the curators, Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath, and incorporates contemporary Arabic poetry into the language of film, providing a poignant reflection on the experience of displacement. It is structured along two distinct narratives, one “real,” the other “fictional,” simultaneously projected on the opposite sides of the same screen.
AT BIENNALE
Location: Arsenale
A VERSION OF THIS ARTICLE APPEARED IN PRINT IN SELECTIONS #49