Monday, 8 April 2013

Our Common Ground - Alwaan 338




Ulafa’a team was born from a group of individuals of diverse backgrounds and artistic skills, who believe that art has the ability to narrate, change and heal. Instead of creating work in isolated closed studios, Ulafa’a creates opportunities for artists to communicate with people directly and develop relationships, share stories, and eventually generate artworks that engage the community.


We're doing so by participating in Alwan 338,
that is being held in Adliya and organized by Al Riwaq Art space.

This year, the festival is showcasing indoor and outdoor artworks under the theme of "Common Ground".



Our team member Ebrahim AKA EDD is exhibiting an installation piece "One Dialogue for All" 

"Each individual is special and we are all different from one another. Although we are all human; each and every one of us has his/her own characteristics, making every one of us unique. However, we don’t all know each other, making us ignorant of other people’s skills, abilities and ways of thought." He said.

Coming from that concept, he collects people’s words and sentences into paragraphs that is grammatically correct but show a collusion of what everyone around him is saying, representing everyone’s unique verbal expressions.   




We found that involving the community is the best way to get our ideas across, therefore we have launched a nationwide campaign on instagram for people to take pictures of Bahraini sights, neighborhoods, people or community. 
That was the main ingredient of our second artwork in Alwan 338 which was under the name of "Our Freej". 

We wanted to show that we are more similar than we are different across the country as well as encourage people to communicate through photos.


 Ulafaa team member Yasser Al Hasan working on the exhibit in Adliya opposite to Lilou's, Alwan 338.


Ulafaa team member and photographer Khalid Al-Jabri taging his pictures from the streets of Bahrain exhibited in Adileya, Alwan 338.

The wall is being built up slowly with time based on people's interaction in Instagram... Yasser working through the night to give life to people's photographs. "Its always a joy" he said.



Pass-buyer tagging a picture with the location where it was taken. 




The insta-exhibition wall has been building up ever since the festival started... We have recieved great responses through instagram and so many great pictures that reflected the urban spirit of Bahrain...

The viewing of the last update of insta-exhibition will be on the coming Saturday (5 - 8 PM)
So if you are around in Adliya, make sure you pass by our work!

Like we always end with....

Salaam,
Ulafa'a Team



Monday, 18 March 2013

The BAB market - a better Bahrain

Ulafa'a has once again showed up on the streets of Bahrain, promoting unity, trust, love and good will. On the weekends of 7th - 10th and the 14- 17th of March the Ulafa'a team were present at Bab AlBahrain (a historical landmark through which Bahrain would welcome people into their land) where a pop up market had been set up by the Ministry of Culture to celebrate Bahraini talent.

In these two weeks we have successfully made a vast number of people smile through small creative acts of kindness, fun activities and interacting with the community. One of our activities included asking people "What would you like to say to and/or advise the Bahraini community?" - the response was massive. Here are some of the answers we received. We will be posting pictures of our other activities from the BAB market soon so stay tuned and keep checking our blog!

You can also checkout our other pictures on our:
Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/UlafaaInitiative
Instagram/twitter: @Ulafaa



Sunday, 3 February 2013

Second Vid: Meet Ulafa'a

Hello Everyone! 

Our second video is uploaded! It is a teaser of what we have recorded in the farmers' market.
 Please feel free to share it with your friends and people in your network and help us spread the word =)




video 


If you are having a trouble viewing the clip you can watch it through the following link:

https://vimeo.com/58663996

Salaam,
Ulafa'a Team 

Sunday, 27 January 2013

Featuring in Ethics Center

Hello Everyone, 



As a main part of the project, Ulafa'a has been communicating with Bradeis University throughout the process to investigate the creative approaches of reconciliation. Skype meetings and online conferences will be conducted to bridge the relationship between Ulafa'a and Peacebuilding and The Arts Program in Brandeis University. All in order to produce a creative artwork that touches people and help in bringing them together. 

Ulafa'a is now featured in the International Center for Ethics, Justice, and Public Life's website which you can check out by clicking here.

Many thanks for the team of Peacebuilding and The Arts Program in Brandeis for their constant help and  support. 


Salaam, 
Ulafa'a Team

Monday, 21 January 2013

A Morning in Farmers' Market






Since the weather is perfectly cold Ulafa'a decided to change the scene and hit the farmers' market early morning for a farmers' breakfast and to record few clips about the project... 


We leave you with some pictures of that day... 




Wasan and Ali preparing to take the first clip..... Action! 



Our first Ulafa'a member to talk, Yasser


We needed someone to "direct" people and supervise... Nada and Yasser didn't mind taking the part!


When the person behind the camera comes in front of it.... becomes too nervous!



Setting up Nada with the mic






 Farmers' market is going to be there every Saturday until May in Budaiya Gardens... You should not miss it! 


Keep an eye for the next Ulafa'a video... 


Salaam,
Ulafaa Team 




Sunday, 13 January 2013

Ulafaa in GDN =)

Hello Everyone! 

After our times in market 338, our team member Areej (journalist and painter) published an article about us in Gulf Daily News... 



You can view the original size of the picture through the link here. 
 
You can also view the article through GDN's official website here.

Thanks Areej ^^

Salaam, 
The Ulafaa Team 

Friday, 21 December 2012

Our First Video!


Hello Everyone! 

Our first video is finally uploaded! 
This was taken during our group walk from Manama Souq to Adliya... Our aim was to observe life... and people... Each one with his/her camera took snapshots for what caught their interest... 

The video is a summary of an almost 3-hours walk, our findings will be reflected through our work and in the final publication... 

Please feel free to share the video with your contacts... 



Many thanks to Leon. D for making this video.

Enjoy! 

Salaam, 
The Ulafaa Team