BARBEDOUN

Multiple venues, London, 2015 – 2017

Whilst working as a production assistant in a craft brewery in East London, I established a community based social-enterprise, in the form of a neo-diasporic pop-up bar, so as to situate a speculative series of grass-roots interventions, in the guise of installations, performances and exhibitions, some of which are documented below.

Collaborators: Jason Codrington, Xim Sum, Arsalan Isa, Samiya Rashid, Mariam Rashid, Ahmed Elshimi, Mohammed Elshimi, Fahad Khalid, Derkan Dogan, William Barylo, Square Root London, OOMK zine, Open School East, Ehsan Fathi, Abu Musa, Maida Hill Place, Imad Ahmed, Shopna Nessa, Palm II Clapton, Selma Ahmed, Salmana Ahmed, Meryem Meg, St Ethelburga’s centre, The River Gallery, Moustafa Hassan, Mohammed Rashid, Hyder Mohsin.

I had the chance to talk with the founder Abbas Zahedi, an artist and performance poet to hear more about this “alternative, nomadic approach to cuisine and culture.” Abbas descends from a line of traditional Persian drinks makers and was inspired by his recent experience of managing events at Rumi’s Cave, a vivid community hub in Kilburn. He wanted to develop a collective space “committed to sustainable arts and cultural projects in the U.K.” Being myself a combination of trans-cultural and trans-national identities, cultures and heritages, I could immediately relate to the concept.

Source: William Barylo for Huffington Post