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| daftar asfar . 2018 (photo courtesy of nahla tabbaa) |
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| daftar asfar – pages 1 (with rama duwaji) & 2 . 2018 (photo courtesy of nahla tabbaa) |
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| daftar asfar – pages 3 & 4 (with sarah ahmed) . 2018 (photo courtesy of nahla tabbaa) |
here are a series of illustrations i worked on shortly after moving back to dubai. i contributed to a project titled 'daftar asfar', which loosely translates to 'yellow notebook'. daftar asfar is a traveling sketchbook "[...] built on the spirit of collaboration, based in the middle east.". the sketchbook is shared with artists to freely create imagery and collaborate with each other within its pages.
when i was given the sketchbook, the first page i was assigned had already been worked on by an amazing illustrator who had the book before me – rama duwaji. i had four days to work on a total of four pages, leaving room on my last page for the next artist to start from. i was so happy to hear that the next contributing artist who i'd be sharing a page with was one of my favourite zine makers and friend, sarah ahmed.
it was a fun project to work on; drawing freely and expressively without worrying about any rules. i filled my pages while stationed in my temporary workspace – the dining room at home! my illustrations were of observations around me at that moment, as well as of photos of myself and friends, memories of people and specific places from home and my time in providence. for the first time in a long time, i drew without referencing a photo through tracing, and challenged myself by only drawing from observation. i think i did a pretty good job loosely capturing accuracies of some of the portraits of myself and friends in the above pages.
a big thanks goes to nahla tabbaa for inviting me to participate in daftar asfar. i can't wait to see where this project goes, and i'm truly honoured to be a part of it. here's more info on daftar asfar via their instagram page.