The Mosaic Rooms

The Mosaic Rooms are delighted to announce that author, journalist and activist from Gaza, Nayrouz Qarmout will be in residence at The Mosaic Rooms this autumn, in a writing residency supported by English PEN. Qarmout, author of story collection The Sea Cloak (Comma Press) and several screenplays, will be in residence at the gallery during Stateless Heritage our exhibition by artist-architecture collective DAAR (Sandi Hilal and Alessandro Petti) which challenges mainstream narratives of refugees, victimhood and suffering. The exhibition proposes exile as a radical perspective beyond the nation state, and refuses Western definitions of heritage, centering on Dheisheh refugee camp in Palestine. As a writer who is active in the struggle of women’s rights and as a Palestinian refugee who writes about life in her own home city of Gaza, Qarmout will explore some of these themes during her residency. She will participate in events in the exhibition’s ‘living room’ space which aims to reflect refugee camp culture, and be a place for solidarities and social connection.

The residency is supported by the British Council.

Nayrouz Qarmout is a journalist, author and women’s rights campaigner. Born in Yarmouk Refugee Camp, Damascus, in 1984, as a Palestinian refugee, she was ‘returned’ to the Gaza Strip at the age of 11 as part of the 1994 Oslo Peace Accord, where she now lives. She used to work in the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, raising awareness of gender issues and promoting the political and economic role of women in policy, law, and the media. She has won a number of prizes including a PEN Translates Award and the Creative Women’s Award for her debut collection The Sea Cloak. More about Nayrouz Qarmout.