“these words they have egos and things to prove themselves, don’t they? we plant them & as they bloom we become intoxicated by their fragrance — so much so that reality shifts.” – Alok V Menon
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High Priestess in Low Tides: A Zine From Cairo To The World
As the moon talked to the woman
If it’s the moon my cycle blindly follows, then I’m a woman of the moon.
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this gentle sting between us
Scroll down for English ——- Es ist ein seltsames Konzept oder Verfahrenall diese Dimensionen von Sinnen und Geschmäckern und Texturen und Instinkten und großen Emotionen in kleine Worte zu fassen und auf der anderen Seite herauszukommen, nicht kleiner, nicht weniger aber fast mehr, auf die eine oder andere Weise transzendiert. Genuss. Die Reinheit die ich…
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touching my pink, purple and blue
It was a hot summer afternoon. No one else was home. I lingered in bed enjoying their absence. I could hear nothing but the sound of the ceiling fan. What is that called? Humming? I let my eyelids rest hoping the other senses would take charge. I tried to find a pattern, a pace to…
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love to life.
Where to begin. Maybe in my cunt. I masturbated to learn about unlocking the paradise within me, with my own powers, with my own love.
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Yoga is political
Für die deutsche Version bitte runterscrollen Yoga is political Many start practicing yoga to get fitter, to relax, to do something good for themselves. We go to the studio, take a seat on our mat, the class begins, we practice different postures, the yoga class is over, we go home again. Today we practiced yoga, one item on our to-do…
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Archiving the Women Who Made Me Possible (after Sitawa Namwalie and Aleya Kassam)
This article was first publishes on Skin Deep in January 2021, and edited by Nkenna Akunna. Check out their amazing work! This article was made possible by donations to the Black Creatives Fund. Donate now. [Trigger Warning: Homophobia, Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia] * Let me tell you about Haneen and Channah, my aunts who are like mothers to…
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schwarz – a personal approach to contemporary black Germany
“schwarz is exemplary of the kind of mindful discussions that should be taking place in Black communities: discussions where nobody is shouting above anyone else to declare that the racism they’ve experienced is more damaging than what someone else has faced; where people are free to speak their piece and be heard; and discussions underpinned…
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Womxn Doing It For Themselves: Cuntview With Nes
In this episode of Womxn Doing It For Themselves, we sat down with filmmaker Sarang Nes. She told us about her short documentary Cuntview, filming a naked vulva in a vulva shaped church, and shared an alternative feminist interpretation of Eve & Adam’s life in Paradise. About the film: Even though cunt is understood to…
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What’s next?
Winter doesn’t seem a great time for starting new adventures, but here we are. We have built enough steady groundwork this year to dare the jump. 2020’s madness had us rethink health, communal care and our needs as a socially distant collective. Together, we were pushed (or – ventured?) towards the edges. In 2021, we…
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تجربة العذرية المعقدة
Scroll down for English وانا صغيرة عمري ما فكرت كتير في الجنس، كان معروف انه حاجة مرتبطة بالجواز. البنت بتستني احد ما تتجوز وبعدين بتنام مع جوزها وخلاص، خلصت الحكاية, اهلي يعتبروا ناس متفتحين يعني ومش مقفلين وكده، عشان كده لما وصلت ست معين النقاش اتفتح بحرية ولكن برضه حوار الجنس بره اطار الجواز ماكنش…
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Privilege and Fragility (my intentions were good though)
I’m a white cis able-bodied woman, my partner is a white cis able-bodied man. It often feels like writing about my experiences takes up too much space on this blog. As part of my work on Kandaka I have published „If you look like me“ (2018) and „The right time and place to be a…
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You Know My World Was Never Flat: Toolkits for Liberation
Dear Friend “Before you were artist/activist/feminist/socialist/revolutionary/she/he/they/queer/polyamorous/heterosexual/agnostic/atheist/believing/firefighter/activator/organiser/reader/…/…/… you were once a child. A child that was curious, not nasty. A child who questioned, but was not judgemental. Let this be our common ground.” Community is the only way through. We manifested this in our residency K I N O T I T A in spring. Holding…
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Language Matters
On Saturday, 6th June, I joined the Black Lives Matter protest in Berlin. In the past years, I protested for Black Lives in London, alongside many other Black people and allies. As Germany has a much smaller Black population, Berlin’s protest was mostly white. Of course, when the majority of the participants are non-Black, the…
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An Open Letter to Our Community
Dear K I N O T I T A, The world is moving at an incredible pace! It feels like yesterday that we began our residency. We worked through pandemic anxieties and sat still in our future fears, watching the world expose its ugly face from our rooms. Suddenly, we are out protesting. The…
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“You’re dressed like a whore”: An email response will have to do
(hurtful words my friend was told by her friend and the later response to him after digesting it) Trigger Warning: Rape A few months ago, a friend of mine went out partying. It was a dress-up party so she put glitter on her cheeks, wore eye shadow and lipstick, and dressed up according to the…
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Womxn Doing It For Themselves – Conversations with Kat
In January 2019, Valia, Vee and I sat down in a Palestinian restaurant in Central London and decided to start a podcast. We were going to call it Kandakat doing it for themselves – Exploring activism in everyday practice. Vee had been experimenting with sound; Valia and I had been looking for ways to capture…
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Can You Be A Feminist And…? Part IV
In this series, we invited feminists all over the world to share their views on what we think are some of the crucial questions that we should be debating right now. The feminist movement is broad, diverse and sometimes divided. Is that a good or a bad thing? Please, share your opinion with us and…
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Tracing Black Histories
During our online art residency K I N O T I T A, Katouche, Hani, Addie & Aida created space for us to come together and explore some key themes from moments in black histories. These sessions were a safe space for casual yet meaningful conversation. They acted as a constant pillar upholding the roof…
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Creating Alternative Realities
On Sundays at 7 PM Cairo time (UTC +2:00), we write. Pandemic dystopias have us rethinking life and our expectations of it. In our creative writing session, we dare to give into the alternative realities we have been longing for. To reimagine ourselves in different futures and kinder worlds and write them into our new…
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K I N O T I T A
This residency ran from April 1st – May 30th 2020. Thank you to all who made it wondrous. The apocalypse is best prevented in κοινότητα – kinotita – community. In these weeks of stillness, it is easy to get lost in our anxiety and future fears. Many of us are frustrated and scared, which can…
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The Good Girl
“No I know you, I can feel you, you’re a good girl.” In most cases, you smile when being told that you’re a good person. Maybe because you’re kind and you radiate positive energy. This definition implies that anyone can be good. However in my world, good carries a different meaning. It comes with a…
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Womxn Doing It For Themselves – Zoe Thompson
Who are you, Zoe? Hi! Gosh how do I answer that ? I am just a being navigating her way through reality, writing things here and there, trying to create and just be. At the time of writing this (while ‘I Am the Black Gold of the Sun’ by Rotary Connection and Minnie Riperton…
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The Virgin Complex
You will feel it he said The ache he said You will grow and know he said What it is to want and be wanted he grabbed Haunted by hands too big and feet kicking against the waterDon’t say my name Don’t be nice Hold me and go fast fuck yeah that feels good even…
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Can You Be A Feminist And…? Part III
What makes a feminist in 2020? In this series, we invited feminists all over the world to share their views on what we think are some of the crucial questions that we should be debating right now. The feminist movement is broad, diverse and sometimes divided. Is that a good or a bad thing? Please,…
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Can You Be A Feminist And…? Part II
What makes a feminist in 2020? In this series, we invited feminists all over the world to share their views on what we think are some of the crucial questions that we should be debating right now. The feminist movement is broad, diverse and sometimes divided. Is that a good or a bad thing? Please,…
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Can You Be A Feminist And…? Part I
What makes a feminist in 2020? In this series, we invited feminists all over the world to share their views on what we think are some of the crucial questions that we should be debating right now. The feminist movement is broad, diverse and sometimes divided. Is that a good or a bad thing? Please, share your…
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Womxn Doing It For Themselves – Cemre
Scrollt runter für die deutsche Version! “I see myself as a perfect mix between masculine and feminine as I am always playing with both genders, not only in pictures but in every aspect of my life.” With this statement, you started our interview for ‘Cover Art Has No Gender’. Now, two years later, you have…
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The European Graveyard
Trigger Warning: Suicide, slavery, war, sexual violence, gender-based violence, European colonialism For over 500 years, Europe has been entombing the evidence of its terrorism in graveyards on the other side of the Atlantic/Pacific/Mediterranean. Most Europeans have never spared a thought to, let alone commemorated, the peoples whose destruction they have caused. Historically, the general populous…
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How much energy do I have to invest to “make the world a better place” already?
Trigger Warning: N-word Everything is political. Even looking for a flat. I recently joined multiple housing groups in Cairo and posted that I was looking to rent a room in a nice flat with nice people and no pets. On my Facebook page, you can find a picture of me in a bra, a picture of me…
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Waves of Identity: An Egyptian Woman’s Struggle to Define Herself
(2019) Sitting on the steps of the sidewalks, I was waiting for the bus to take me to the capital’s airport.I said to my friend: “I hope I still belong in Egypt.” I had not visited Egypt in three years and had moved away seven years ago. I had become accustomed to losing and…
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Modesty Verses
modesty verses this sex ting’s esoteric, belonging to a few. not for girls like me who sprouted perched in pews. when The Bible says you cannot, you repress & grit your teeth. else demons go come and get you, drag you underneath. roasting like groundnut, legs crossed like a saint; sighing at my…
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When Did You Last Speak To Your Vagina?
What comes to mind when you think of vaginal health? Have you ever heard of vaginismus? Does this term ring a bell, or does it sound like “a condition that’s basically… [the word for vagina] mixed with the word for Christmas”? (as Ella Langley tells us half-jokingly in her newest play Have I Told…
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COVER ART: Re-imagining Effortlessness
Hadeel My redefining of effortless fashion comes after years of mimicking outfits and being frustrated by a closet that was not comfortable, flattering or fun. What’s been renowned as effortless was in fact just an ill fitting pile of clothes that looked so much better online — and usually a lot less see through. Effortless…
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COVER ART: Effortlessness Is A Colonial Myth
“I aim to look effortless” – European slim university student wearing a simple white shirt underneath a simple designer jacket, combined with casual jeans and simple expensive trainers and, of course, a messy bun. Dangling from her arm is a simple designer bag with her MacBook safely hidden in a simple but stylish laptop case.…
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KANDAKA 