meet the author : hashem hashem

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'How many of us have another person inside us? Almost two years ago, I met the second person who lives inside me. Let’s call this person “Orlando” to avoid any confusion.'
Who are we when the body we were born in and our features change along with the heart of our city? What is left of us? And what does it mean to be oneself, at home with oneself? What new refuges can we give ourselves? A transgender man and a poet, Hashem Hashem emerges as a Lebanese version of Virginia Woolf's Orlando. For the Passa Porta Festival, he explores the ever-changing ‘essence’ of individual and collective identity in an intimate performance-text. Like his body in motion, the city of Beirut appears as a restless physical space marked by profound transformations.
Written and performed by Hashem Hashem and directed by Patricia Nammour, this solo performance developed in the context of the ArtEvolution programme of the Goethe-Institut Lebanon in 2021 will be shown for the first time in Belgium thanks to the Théâtre National de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles.
about the author
Hashem Hashem (b. 1988) is a poet, writer and performer based in Beirut. He holds an MA in Gender and Sexuality Studies from SOAS University of London and is involved in local and regional queer and trans groups. He performs regularly at poetry nights and has been invited to participate in various art festivals abroad, including Mexico City, Kathmandu and Belfast. In 2018 he collaborated with belly dancer Alexandre Paulikevich in the performance The Last Distance. His poetry is included in And We Chose Everything, a poetry anthology published by Turning Point Books. In 2019 Hashem Hashem received the AFAC Performing Arts Grant to develop a collaborative project entitled Night Prayer with Alexandre Paulikevitch. Following the Beirut port explosion in August 2020, Hashem received the 'Fund the Arts in Beirut' grant by Mophradat in 2021. That same year, Hashem was also selected to join the ArtEvolution programme of the Goethe-Institut Lebanon where he developed his first solo performance, I am the same, yet so different, which he presented in Beirut in November 2021.
Org. Passa Porta, Théâtre National
picture Hashem Hashem © Nasri Sayegh
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