Art Against Authoritarianism in Southwest Asia and North Africa

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Over the past decade, there has been a burgeoning interest in the realm of art activism within the South West Asia and North Africa region, shedding light on the political implications of aesthetic representation. Nevertheless, a critical inquiry into how political aesthetics can formulate both discernible and imperceptible resistance strategies in response to resurging authoritarianism and counter-revolution after the 2011 uprisings in the region remains conspicuously absent. This text delves into a comprehensive examination of diverse art forms, ranging from street art and cinema to performance art, as well as music and theatre, scrutinizing the manifestations of aesthetic resilience at the epicenter of the political resistance against oppression and authoritarianism in Sudan, Iran, Turkey, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Lebanon, Yemen and Syria. The authors employ a multifaceted approach to investigate aesthetic activism, encompassing analysis of visibility, ephemerality, and speech within the public sphere, the establishment and perpetuation of collective transnational solidarities, the portrayal of suppressed identities and narratives, and the innovation of alternative mechanisms for producing and disseminating art.

Author Bio

Tijen Tunali is a Marie Sklodowska Curie Cofund Fellow at the University of Rennes 2, France. She is editor of Art and Gentrification in the Changing Neoliberal Landscape (2021) and co-editor of Contemporary Art Across Political Divides: Difficult Conversations (2023). Josepha Wessels is an Associate Professor in Media and Communication Studies at the School of Arts and Communication at Malm University, Sweden. She is the author of Documenting Syria: Film-making, Video Activism and Revolution (2019, I.B.Tauris).