Arts & Culture
Homeland & Homemaking Exhibit at local library
Homeland and Homemaking was an arts exhibit over two years in the making. It explored themes of home, migration, storytelling, and identity within our Arab immigrant and refugee communities. Held on October 19, 2024, at the El Cajon Public Library, the exhibit was a powerful evening of art, performances, and community connection. It featured work from our youth arts programming, local artists, performers, and Majdal’s Dabke troupe. This exhibit was made possible through the support of the El Cajon Library, California Humanities, Imagine Brave Spaces, and our dedicated volunteers and staff.
Photography and filmmaking
With Fadi Taher of Impact Media
Fadi Taher a hosted a photography and filmmaking training. Over the course of five days, 20 youth explored the technical and narrative aspects of visual storytelling, using their mobile phones as powerful tools for communication and self-expression. By the end of the workshop, the participants produced A documentary on immigrant challenges that was later expanded into a professionally shot and edited documentary, “Stories of Home: Arab Migration Across Generations."
This initiative was designed not only to teach technical skills but also to empower the youth to express their identities and personal narratives through creative mediums. Through photography and documentary filmmaking, the participants found new ways to address the complexities of identity and communicate their stories to a broader audience.
Storytelling Workshop
Storytelling Club with Fadi Taher
The Majdal Center and Impact Media hosted a five-day Storytelling Club with 20 Arab refugee youth participants. The program is designed to build resilience, foster mental well-being, and nurture a sense of identity. This initiative provided a safe space for self-expression, allowing the participants to explore their inner strengths and embrace their unique stories. Throughout the workshop, the youth engaged in various artistic and reflective activities aimed at enhancing self-acceptance, overcoming fear, and identifying their personal strengths.
These activities encouraged participants to not only acknowledge their fears but also recognize their ability to solve problems and support others during challenging times. By the end of the workshop, the youth left with greater confidence, a stronger sense of identity, and practical tools to build resilience in their lives. This project, rooted in peer-to-peer learning and artistic expression, has provided a lasting impact on the participants, equipping them with the emotional and psychological tools necessary to navigate their identity challenges and thrive in the face of adversity.
Poetry and Writing Workshop
With San Diego Poet Laureate, Jason Magabo Perez, Ph.D.
During a 3-day poetry writing workshop facilitated by San Diego Poet Laureate, Jason Magabo Perez, Ph.D, youth participants devloped thier own poems and came to gther to create a collaborative poem. The workshop guided reflection on themes of home, homeland, and identity through storytelling and poetry writing. Gathering inspiration from Arab poetry, participants closely read and discussed the work (in both Arabic and English) of poets such as Mahmoud Darwish, Jabra Ibrahim Jabra, and Nazik al-Mala'ika.
Participants reflected on their own lived experiences and crafted their own unique imageries of home and homeland. Youth were introduced to an accessible poetry practice that bridges reading poetry with writing poetry. Participants drew from Arab poetry in order to explore and further develop their own sensibilities as poets.
Theatre & Dance “Little Amal"
With Catherine Hanna Schrock from Imagine Brave Spaces
Following the Little Amal performance, Imagine hosted a day-long socially-engaged theater workshop at the Majdal Center. During the workshop, the youth learned theater games, created a community monologue and learned about the role of theater as a tool for both social change and human connection.
Printmaking
Youth at the Majdal Center created an edition of linocut prints during a 3 day printmaking workshop led by Lorain Khalil Rihan. They explored the role that print media has played historically in the dissemination of information during popular social movements, and considered the visual relationship between text and the symbols in an image as a whole. The artwork is a reflection of their own personal dreams and gifts that can be in service to their community. Some of these include their aspirations of pursuing careers in the medical field to heal their communities and hopes for freedom in their motherlands.
Embroidery
Youth at the Majdal Center each created “drawings” using the process of embroidery during a 4-day workshop led by Lorain Khalil Rihan while engaging with topics on mental health, stigma, substance abuse, PTSD, trauma and war. They explored how the slow process of embroidery can serve as a tool for the expression of a feeling, emotion, memory or experience as it invites the participant to remain present with the art form rather than seeking a distraction. Each young artist identified a subject and symbol to embroider and considered the different colors, lines, shapes and embroidery techniques that could be used to express a particular experience.
Embroidery & Printmaking with Lorain
With visual artist, storyteller and educator Lorain Khalil Rihan