My [Distorted] City [In Which I Wake Up Every Day] book launch

MMAG celebrated the launching of the book My [Distorted] City [In Which I Wake Up Every Day] by Hisham Al-Bustani and Linda Al-Khoury. This joint literary-photographic project about their city, Amman started as a series of interactive performances, and then transformed into a book. Haneen Al-Nimri led a panel discussion with Hisham and Linda who discussed their complex relationship with Amman and the city's transformations and distortions.

Hisham Al-Bustani is an author who writes stories, poetry, essays, and hybrid and generative forms. He has published five books in literature: On Love and Death (Al-Farabi, 2008), The Monotone Chaos of Existence (Al-Farabi, 2010), I see the meaning (Al-Adab, 2012), Inevitable introductions to a postponed annihilation (Al-Ain, 2014), and A Long Inhale Before It’s All Over”(Al-Kutub Khan, 2018). In political thought, he published the book Functional Entities: The Limits of Political Practice in the Postcolonial Arab Region (two volumes, Arab Foundation for Studies and Publishing, 2021).
Hisham's stories and poetic texts were translated into several languages, and published internationally and his work has received numerous prizes.

Linda Al-Khoury is a photographer based in Amman. Her passion for photography has accompanied her since childhood, starting as a hobby with keen observation, and the camera quickly became her means of recording what was going on around her and what was taking shape in her imagination. Linda completed her specialized studies in photography in 2002 at the Holy Spirit University - Kalslik in Lebanon, has been teaching photography since 2005, and founded the Photography Department in 2007. She works as a professional photographer specializing in architectural and interior photography, devoting time to her passion for artistic photography, as she works to complete her photographic project, “Tales from the Mountains of Oman,” a project that began with “Stories.” From Jabal al-Lweibdeh,” which has been shown in more than one place in the world over the past four years. She is also working on a group of artistic projects, including natural and documentary works.

Haneen Al-Nimri is an architect who holds a master’s degree in architecture and urban design from Aalto University. She focuses her work and research on ethnographic methods and participatory design, and is interested in the relationship between urban design, ownership and power relations in cities and their impact on shaping urban environments. Haneen is a member of the makāna team, an emerging community network and movement concerned with the right of the general community to shape spaces and their related urban policies, working towards spatial and social justice across Jordan. makāna’s work combines community organizing, applied and participatory research, and and on-the-ground experimentation and implementation. makāna is one of the initiatives hosted by MMAG in its street studios.