Us and Those Who Brought us: talks and readings

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Why do we feel an urge to tell our own intimate stories today? How is the personal made relevant? How has time played a role in how we recall and retell? In our attempts to remember, are we also able to be critical and unveil our flaws? Can parental guidance simply become one among many options, or is advice from a place of power (and love) destined to be overbearing? How can some of the standard features of biographies challenged or reimagined? 

“Us and Those Who Brought Us to Life” is a series of events organized by Mada Masr to discuss contemporary cultural and artistic works — particularly in literature and film — that navigate the tense and intimate anatomy of a family.

The works we have selected attempt to engage with the nature of familial connections and how they are molded and altered over time. While we intend to shed light on the works themselves, as well as the creative processes of the artists behind them, we are interested in unpacking the wider context in which these projects were realized, and to explore this evident desire to engage with and reflect on the smaller, personal and seemingly non-political battles today. 

The objective is to instigate intergenerational conversations that are otherwise left out of account: the eagerness to deflate (or pay tribute) to childhood idols; identity formation within family structure; the interplay of power at home; how the changing social and political discourse bears upon parenting practices.

We started the series with a reading by writer and researcher Amr Ezzat from his recently published book Room 304 or How I Hid from My Dear Father for 35 Years, followed by a discussion moderated by filmmaker Nadine Salib.

For the second installment of “Us and Those Who Brought Us to Life,” we had writer and filmmaker Nadia Kamel for a reading from her book, Al-Mawlouda (The Newborn), followed by a discussion moderated by artist and filmmaker Salma El Tarzi.

Details about upcoming events will be published soon.