When George Floyd’s murder re-ignited Black Lives Matter protests in the U.S. and around the world in May 2020, I was living in my mother’s house in Nuremberg, Germany, for the first time in five years. I felt lost and without a community to experience and welcome this moment in all its pain and possibility.…
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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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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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انا بقالى مدة مفكرتش ف عذريتى…من ساعة ما تقبلت اٍنى مش مصاحبة حد, الجنس و التواصل الجسدي بقوا حاجات بشترك فيها (سواء مع نفسى او مع ناس تانية) لسعادتى أنا. بس اقدر افتكر فترة كبيرة فى حياتى كانت مليانة بالتفكير فى العذرية, و اٍكتشفت إنى كنت بربطها بالنور و الضلمة. التواصل الجسدي فى الضلمة تجربة…
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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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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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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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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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(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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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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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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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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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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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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“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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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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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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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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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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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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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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When in London my sister smells afros on the train, she turns her head towards in the shop, her nose finds the isle with at the club, her drunk senses recognise the familiar smell of unfamiliar bodies, good unfamiliar. Intimidating, intoxicating calling her into a familial embrace and celebrating her body shape. …
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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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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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(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 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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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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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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“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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“When I think of what literature can do, and I think of the ways that literature has changed minds and opened imaginations, I want to say that we African writers must centre the African gaze. We must centre the Nigerian gaze, the Cameroonian gaze, the Ethiopian gaze, the Kenyan gaze. We need to be writing…
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TRIGGER WARNING If you haven’t been following the Sudan Uprising, here is a timeline of the most crucial events since then (partly taken from this BBC article): 19 December 2018: Protests erupt after fuel and bread price rises announced 22 February 2019: President Bashir dissolves the government 24 February: Protests continue as security forces respond…
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The play Emilia is a great example of intersectional feminism – the story follows a black woman countering the stereotypes that are projected onto her by entitled white men. The actresses truly represent an intersectional cast countering racism, ableism, ageism and body shaming, alongside sexism. As such, we believe that inspiring performances like these can…
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Melanin Permission Slip by Jessica Fisher Hmmm, Brown skin, curly hair Intriguing Black? Latina? Native American? All three? Maybe, but surely too pretty to be black And not mixed with something Oh. Does that make it more acceptable to love me? Do you now have permission with the assumed dilution of my melanin? Could…
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On the 15th of April 2019, the famous cathedral Notre Dame in Paris caught fire. I want to recall the digital discourses around the fire and demonstrate how a closer look at them shows the state of our current social, economic and political situation. At 6:20 p.m. local time on Monday, 15th of April…
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صوت المرأة ثورة Kandaka is the title used for queens in the ancient kingdom of Kush. However, Kandaka the word means “strong woman”. And where can you find stronger women than in Sudan? For four months now (really for many years), Sudanese people inside and outside the country have been protesting for the fall of […]
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