The Rangers’ Edition

We want to start by saying that logistical challenges and publishing traveling, fragile sketchbooks  is our game. 

The nature of Daftar Asfar is that it has thrived despite us being worlds apart. And the three of us have been used to connecting digitally under amusing spectrums of technology. There was a happy ending though, because although Lena was in New Mexico, she moved to Dubai recently, and Sarah was a month away from moving to Abu Dhabi.

And then Covid-19 happened. 

Sarah could not make it to Abu Dhabi and is in Amman, Lena and Nahla are confined in their homes in Dubai.

In addition to that, like the rest of the world, we felt vulnerable, stuck and blocked- but also desperate to think about our Daftar Asfar community and seek ways to adapt, and problem solve.

But here’s the thing with a pandemic. The grief is so hard-hitting that, before we could be there for our community, we needed to be there for each other first. We decided to focus on how the three of us as co-founders actually felt. Where were we? What had we lost? And since we are used to working under tough circumstances we chose to just simply, play, collaborate and not be colleagues.

So Sarah sent us a digital file with a paper texture and asked that we each draw on one and send to the other. 

A small gesture, but one that has impacted us hugely; a bit of excitement, anticipation and of course the meditative qualities of an Apple Pencil moving across an iPad while listening to music. We didn’t set a theme per se, nor did we try to think of ways to actively respond to the current situation, we are simply grateful that after all these years of knowing each other, we finally got to pause and collaborate with one another!

As with every publication, there were bloopers, such as forgetting to sign images- (Sarah proudly owns our signatures and can forge documents anytime), or not being able to send files in the right formats across and sometimes, even sending it to the wrong person and ruining that surprise element we were desperately trying to preserve.

Ultimately, this process has shown us how much creative respect we have for one another, and how we fed off each other collaboratively and brought out each other’s visual personalities. Though our scales and styles do differ, the anticipation felt a little bit like unwrapping a gift. We also found a way to express ourselves in a medium that gave us ease during our lockdown and isolation, but also, being on the receiving end made us feel more empathetic towards each other’s emotions and more connected.

Click here to download a digital toolkit that we have curated!

Click here to purchase print 4 out of the series, where 100% net proceeds is going towards AFAC Fund’s Lebanon Solidarity Fund to support the lives of creatives in Beirut after the devastating explosions.

Click here to purchase the full set of editions, which arrives in a box accompanied by narratives around each work.