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february 05, 2019 - Sense-Lab

HERstory: from the dialogue between 5 extraordinary women and 5 extraordinary Emirates artists, an exhibition


HERstory: from the dialogue between 5 extraordinary women and 5 extraordinary Emirates artists, an exhibition.

Dubai, from 23 January to 31 March 2019

Exhibition at the Women's Museum

HERstory is a women #design project directed by Prof. Rafia Obaid Ghubash, held under the patronage of the Women’s Museum in #dubai in partnership with iGuzzini and in collaboration with the School of #design, Politecnico Milano.

Curated by Anna Barbara (School of #design, Politecnico di Milano; #senselab, Milan) and Indu Varanasi (I R #design, Dubai), HERstory is a cross-cultural interaction between women who have ‘enlightened’ lives through their words, deeds and actions. It is participatory project that bridges different women through creative articulation and interpretation of the spirit behind. Leading women in UAE; known for active role in all public fields are paired with women artists that will translate their stories through art.

HERstory is an intergenerational creative exchange among inspiring women, a collection of stories aimed at building a dialogue between different generations, bridging experiences and interconnecting minds.The project is a dynamic interaction among 5 working and leading women in UAE and 5 women artists.

Each designer and artist is interpreting one of the leading woman through the lens of arts, literature, creativity and #design by using different media and types of art, rethinking and redesigning her story and thoughts. The interaction is not aimed at developing a Biography of the Women leaders but to rather activate, nurture and document an unique exchange and a dialogue between inspiring personalities.

Among the protagonists, just to name a few, Isobel Abulhoul (Founder of the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature and co-founder of Magrudy’s bookshop chain), Afra Atiq, the Emirati award-winning poet, Alia Lootah, part of the curatorial team of the Louvre in Abu Dhabi and Najat Makki, the first Emirati woman to earn a government scholarship to study art abroad in 1977.

The exhibition, during which the artists will be narrating the leading women’s stories through their own piece of art, will be held at the Women’s Museum in #dubai on 23rd January from 6 pm and it will be running until 31st March: a display of words, images, objects, videos, interwoven in understanding the story-telling process from which these stories were born.

The Women’s Museum, the first-of-its-kind in the region, is a national archive and a documentation center, dedicated to the women of UAE. It’s concerned with all aspects of their lives and with the historical and social contexts. A contemporary cultural center exploring the activities of Emirati Women in the arts, academy, business, culture, politics and society in general. The Women's Museum has been founded in 2012 by Prof. Rafia Ghubash, Professor of Psychiatry, former President of the Arabian Gulf University in Bahrain and President of the Arab Network for Women in Science and Technology.

iGuzzini, a leading international group that operates in the architectural lighting sector, in line with its commitment to social innovation, intends, through this project, to shed light to women and their fundamental role and contribution in the society.

The company has further supported the initiative by donating an upgrade lighting scheme to the Women’s Museum, in order to enhance the visitors’ experience.

HERstory, sponsored by Came (Home & Building Automation) and Kelmer (International Business Consultants), is just the first chapter of a wider project, Women #design Capital, launched during the #dubai #design Week by Anna Barbara and Ingrid Paoletti with the Politecnico di Milano as the team leader of a constellation of institutions and organizations willing to encourage the cross-cultural exchange and dialogue on topics concerning women through a series of initiatives, activities and projects heading towards the Expo 2020.

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