EventsZa’atar workshop
Carleton Dominion-Chalmers Centre (enter at 290 Lisgar Street)
November 24, 2024
2:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Cooking and conversing with Rana Nazzal Hamadeh
Join artist Rana Nazzal Hamadeh and CUAG educator-in-residence Jade Sullivan for a free workshop of cooking and conversation inspired by the themes and questions in Rana’s installation work 1/1000th of a Dunam, presented in A Dream of Return.
The Arabic word for thyme, za’atar is also the name of a spice blend made of dried thyme leaves, sumac, toasted sesame seeds and salt. A staple of the Palestinian pantry, za’atar spice is often used as a topping on freshly baked flatbread or as a dip paired with olive oil and labneh.
The wild thyme used in za’atar spice grows abundantly in the hills of occupied Palestine and is used in popular dishes, added to tea, or taken medicinally. In 1977, Israel outlawed the collection of wild thyme, criminalizing its collection with a law whose enactment has exclusively affected Palestinians. Despite the law, Palestinians continue to harvest thyme and make za’atar spice.
Together, we’ll learn the steps to making za’atar spice and sit down to eat as we reflect on food sovereignty, resistance and colonization in the Palestinian pantry.
This workshop is designed for People of Colour and Black and Indigenous folks. Space is limited. Please register in advance by emailing Fiona Wright.
This event is part of Stonecroft Semester: The Art of Connection. More info here.
Participants
Rana Nazzal Hamadeh is a Palestinian artist based on unceded Anishinaabe Algonquin land. Her photography, film, and installation works look at issues related to time, space, memory and movement, offering interventions rooted in a decolonial perspective. Her practice is informed by the ever-evolving knowledge that emerges from movements for justice. Rana holds an MFA in Documentary Media from Toronto Metropolitan University and a BA in Human Rights from Carleton University. She is currently conducting research on Palestinian food practices and working for a Palestinian political prisoners’ organization.
Jade Sullivan (she/they) is an intersectional feminist geographer and activist currently pursuing her MA in Women’s and Gender Studies at Carleton. She has been a community activist and researcher for almost a decade, working in feminist transformative spaces in Canada, Trinidad and Tobago and across the Caribbean region. Jade focuses on creating safe and sustainable spaces for systematically marginalized people, using anti-oppressive, decolonial and gender-transformative feminist tools. She is learning to use the knowledge from her black feminist foreparents and the politics of pleasure and care, to reframe her feminist future.
