The co-founders of Daftar Asfar, taken at the Daftar Asfar booth at Art Dubai 2019.
ABOUT THE CO-FOUNDERS
SARAH HATAHET
Sarah is a Jordanian printmaker by education and an art curator by profession. Straight out of university, Sarah founded along with three of her printmaking friends, a platform called ‘the studio’. The creative space functioned as a printmaking studio and a gallery in the heart of Amman. During that time, Sarah was able to establish connections with local and international artists, galleries, and art institutions. She later ventured into the curatorial field. In her personal work, she's constantly experimenting with different techniques varying between printmaking to digital art, she is a person who is open to exploration both as a practicing artist and in the curatorial field.
LENA KASSICIEH
Lena Kassicieh is a Palestinian-American multidisciplinary artist and anthropologist. Growing up between the deserts of New Mexico and Jordan, she completed her master’s of science in cultural and social anthropology at the University of Amsterdam. She’s been working in the Middle East’s arts and cultural scene since 2012. Formerly the communications and outreach manager of Amman Design Week and Art Dubai, and managing editor of several art & cultural magazines and platforms, Lena is passionate about using visual and experimental tools to tell a story. She regularly experiments in photography, ceramics, digital illustrations, and pattern design. She has shown her work throughout the Middle East and in North America.
NAHLA TABBAA
Nahla Tabbaa is a Jordanian-Bangladeshi contemporary art educator, artist and culinary urban experience curator. She completed her MA in Curatorial Practice from the Bath School of Art and Design and a BFA in Sculpture from Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design. Nahla is a highly energetic, pocket-sized ticking bomb who multi-tasks between several projects and wears many hats. By day she is a consultant in community programming for contemporary art foundations including Art Jameel and previously Sharjah Art Foundation, and is a trail hostess and curator with Frying Pan Adventures. In between, she is hosting supper clubs, gardening, making art, measuring her productivity and time management skills obsessively. She is also writing, photographing and hopping on planes for her travel blog, Yugen Tales. She has taught and lectured at various spaces on subjects around culinary and urban narratives, mapping, institutional ethics and dilemmas in socially engaged practices and the spirit of collaboration. She is inclusive and collaborative by nature, and this can be seen in the many projects she has led, including Daftar Asfar and An Urban Reflection.
Daftar Asfar was co-founded by Sarah Hatahet, Lena Kassicieh, and Nahla Tabbaa in 2017. Each artist was based in Amman at a certain point, and contributed generously to the local creative and cultural scene.
The project was founded completely remotely, with each co-founder being in a different space; Nahla being in the UAE, Sarah between the UAE, Jordan, and the UK, and Lena in Jordan and the US. The dedication, passion, and logistic coordination that went into the project all took place over Skype and Zoom meetings, WhatsApp, a meticulously organized Google Drive, and email, regularly across continental time zones.
Daftar Asfar is now run by Lena Kassicieh and Sarah Hatahet.