DEEMA ALGHUNAIM

In my father’s library, I feel like an intruder and a librarian. Finding for him all the books he failed to find, but also replacing, smuggling and stealing his books. Because it is a private library, it reflects my father’s thoughts and questions. His library gives a panoramic view of his mind and unfolds the body of knowledge that was available to him during his youth. Some of our bedtime stories were about finding books.

I love writing letters. I don’t write the date, I don’t always send them or sign them, but I like the feeling of writing to someone. I started writing letters in the library, and reading old Arabic manuscripts with my father and that made me interested in the profession of the scribe who used to copy books before the invention of printing. While my father is verifying the different copies of a book, I was interested in the production of error in this process and how it makes room for imagination.

During Covid-19, I started studying bookmaking, book art and printmaking through online workshops. I learned miniature painting methods, history of Japanese books and bookbinding. Bookmaking made me feel closer to home when visiting my six kilometers away parents was no longer an option.

There is a whole section at my father’s library for children’s literature, which were not only inspiring, but also telling of how Arab creatives communicated with children during turbulent and unsettling times.

I started writing stories for children during college years. I was designing a chair for a storyteller and I used to improvise stories for my nephews and nieces to imagine how that chair would be. More recently, I have published two stories, Alif; a story about Arabic calligraphy and incollaboration with Sharaf Studio, and Yasmeen’s Dress; a story addressing emotional abuse and in collaboration with Zaina Al-Zabin, a psychotherapist from Kuwait.

One day, my father showed me a collection of wall zines he used to make during high school. I was fascinated by it and since then, I’ve been trying to utilize the idea of the zine and actually do it. The notorious and informal nature of a wall zine responds to my experimental way of thinking.

Naktub, has been a platform for me to exercise my thoughts and practices in relation to children. Naktub is a programme I’ve co-created with Lolwa Alkandari, and organized by The Promenade Cultural Center. It happens twice a year and each season is followed by a zine that presents the students work.