Announcing Our 2024-25 Displaced Artists
We are delighted to announce the new residents of the Displaced Artists Initiative at Reid Hall. Palestinian poet Doha Kahlout and Ugandan dancer Haman Mpadire will join us in September 2024. Co-sponsored by the Columbia Global Paris Center and the Institute for Ideas and Imagination, the Displaced Artists Initiative is designed to provide support to artists who have had to leave their countries of origin due to extreme circumstances (war, natural disaster, political oppression).
Join us at Reid Hall on September 18, 2024 for the Displaced Artists Festival, a celebration of the arrival of next year’s residents and the accomplishments of this year’s residents, Iranian author Aliyeh Ataei and the 1991 Project, a non-profit association whose purpose is to safeguard and promote Ukrainian music. The Festival will be an evening of literary readings, music and dance performances.
Doha Kahlout
Doha Kahlout is a Palestinian poet and teacher of Arabic. She graduated from Al-Azhar University with a BA in Arabic Language and Media Studies. In 2018, Kahlout published her first collection of poetry, Ashbah (نشرت, “Similarities”), with Dar Tarik Publishing House. She has also contributed to publications of the Qattan Foundation and Dar Tibaq Publishing House. “I am passionate about writing and about experimenting with writing; about reading all forms of literature; and about both participating in special workshops on writing and teaching young people, so that, together, we can reach the secret power of the word and what it does to us.”
Haman Mpadire
Haman Mpadire is a performance artist, dancer, and researcher born in Eastern Uganda, originally from the Busoga tribe. He graduated with a Masters degree of Arts, Literature and Languages in Dance from CCN – Paul Valéry University. He received the Pina Bausch Fellowship in 2023, following his participation in the Fondation d’entreprise Hermès “Artists in the Community” bursary scheme and the Institut français “Visas pour la création” program. His artistic practices probe experimental research around colonial systems and post-colonial theories. In his current projects, Haman is exploring animistic notions of the ancient Busoga kingdom and beyond along with the complex relationships between identity and visibility for black African bodies.