21 ARTISTS AND A BIENNIAL | NUJOOM ALGHANEM

Photo of Nujoom Alghanem. Photo by Augustine Parades of Seeing Things. Courtesy of the National Pavilion UAE – La Biennale di Venezia
Photo of Nujoom Alghanem. Photo by Augustine Parades of Seeing Things. Courtesy of the National Pavilion UAE – La Biennale di Venezia

Nujoom Alghanem
b.Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 1962

 

Nujoom Alghanem, Between Heaven & Earth, the Body I Borrowed, 1994, Text, documentary photographs of performance, sound (sound rerecorded 2017). Courtesy of the artist.
Nujoom Alghanem, Between Heaven & Earth, the Body I Borrowed, 1994, Text, documentary photographs of performance, sound (sound rerecorded 2017). Courtesy of the artist.

 

 

 

 

 

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.

Nujoom Alghanem, Still from Nearby Sky, 2014, Documentary, 1 hour 25 minutes. Courtesy of the artist
Nujoom Alghanem, Still from Nearby Sky, 2014, Documentary, 1 hour 25 minutes. Courtesy of the artist

SHE IS WIDELY REGARDED
AS ONE OF THE BEST
MODERN EMIRATI POETS
ALIVE.

Nujoom Alghanem, Still from Sharp Tools, 2017, Documentary, 1 hour 24 minutes. Courtesy of the artist
Nujoom Alghanem, Still from Sharp Tools, 2017, Documentary, 1 hour 24 minutes. Courtesy of the artist

 

Education:
Bachelor’s in Video
Production, Ohio
University, USA (1996)
Master’s in Media Production,
School of Film, Griffith University,
Australia (1999)

Nujoom Alghanem, Still from Nearby Sky, 2014, Documentary, 1 hour 25 minutes. Courtesy of the artist
Nujoom Alghanem, Still from Nearby Sky, 2014, Documentary, 1 hour 25 minutes. Courtesy of the artist
Nujoom Alghanem, Still from Nearby Sky, 2014, Documentary, 1 hour 25 minutes. Courtesy of the artist
Nujoom Alghanem, Still from Nearby Sky, 2014, Documentary, 1 hour 25 minutes. Courtesy of the artist

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

Nujoom Alghanem, Still from Nearby Sky, 2014, Documentary, 1 hour 25 minutes. Courtesy of the artist
Nujoom Alghanem, Still from Nearby Sky, 2014, Documentary, 1 hour 25 minutes. Courtesy of the artist
Nujoom Alghanem, Cover of Silsilat Al Ramad, Issue no. 1, 1985 (reproduced 2017). Photocopied zine with poetry, writing and drawings by Khalid Albudoor, Nujoom Alghanem, Yousif Khalil and Hassan Sharif. Courtesy of the National Pavilion UAE – la Biennale di Venezia
Nujoom Alghanem, Cover of Silsilat Al Ramad, Issue no. 1, 1985 (reproduced 2017). Photocopied zine with poetry, writing and drawings by Khalid Albudoor, Nujoom Alghanem, Yousif Khalil and Hassan Sharif. Courtesy of the National Pavilion UAE – la Biennale di Venezia

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.

Photo of the official inauguration of the UAE Pavilion at the 58th edition of La Biennale di Venezia 2019. Courtesy of the National Pavilion UAELa Biennale di Venezia
Photo of the official inauguration of the UAE Pavilion at the 58th edition of La Biennale di Venezia 2019. Courtesy of the National Pavilion UAELa Biennale di Venezia

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.

Nujoom Alghanem, Passage (installation view), 2019. Photo credit Barbara Zanon. Courtesy of the National Pavilion UAE - La Biennale di Venezi
Nujoom Alghanem, Passage (installation view), 2019. Photo credit Barbara Zanon. Courtesy of the National Pavilion UAE – La Biennale di Venezi

AT BIENNALE

Location: Arsenale

Nujoom Alghanem, Passage (installation view), 2019. Photo credit Barbara Zanon. Courtesy of the National Pavilion UAE - La Biennale di Venezia
Nujoom Alghanem, Passage (installation view), 2019. Photo credit Barbara Zanon. Courtesy of the National Pavilion UAE – La Biennale di Venezia
Nujoom Alghanem, Passage (installation view), 2019. Photo credit Barbara Zanon. Courtesy of the National Pavilion UAE - La Biennale di Venezia
Nujoom Alghanem, Passage (installation view), 2019. Photo credit Barbara Zanon. Courtesy of the National Pavilion UAE – La Biennale di Venezia

A VERSION OF THIS ARTICLE APPEARED IN PRINT IN SELECTIONS #49

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