Interview with Ala Younis

Tea with Culture

In this episode our guest Ala Younis has a conversation with Hind Mezaina about her latest exhibition "Plan for Feminist Greater Baghdad" at the Art Jameel Project Space in Dubai, which is on until 14th March 2018. Plan for Feminist Greater Baghdad builds on Younis’s 2015 work, Plan for Greater Baghdad, which looked at monuments, (by) architects, (for) governments, and the short state of empowerment they gained as politics shifted in Iraq. The project anchored itself within the history of a gymnasium in Baghdad that was designed by Le Corbusier and named after Saddam Hussein. Heavily based on archives, found material, and the stories of its male protagonists, the project explored issues relating to the protection of monuments for posterity, and the creation of plans for Baghdad as either an expression of power or as a necessity. Plan for Feminist Greater Baghdad brings to the fore the significant contributions made by female artists, architects and other influential characters to the development of Baghdad and its modern monuments. It re-articulates archival material to bring about new narratives, seeing beyond the male dominance of the city’s architecture and politics, to reveal the female influence on Baghdad’s history. http://www.alayounis.com http://planforgreaterbaghdad.art https://artjameel.org/event/ala-younis-plan-for-feminist-greater-baghdad/ You can view images of the work on our Instagram page - https://www.instagram.com/p/BgO3wq0BKQV/?taken-by=teawithculture