With great pleasure the Mangroves from the Water exhibition will be a part of the United Arab Emirate pavilion at the upcoming Smithsonian Folklife Festival to be held at the National Mall, the park in the heart of the capital of the United States surrounded by the Smithsonian museums in Washington DC.
The 2022 Smithsonian Folklife Festival will showcase the UAE, participating for the first time, along with the program Earth Optimism x Folklife highlighting community-based conservation. The festival will open on 22 June and close on 4 July, taking place over two weeks. Events are free to the public and typically draw more than 600 000 visitors.
UAE Program Snapshot
United Arab Emirates: Living Landscape | Living Memory will explore the cultural traditions that emerge from Emirati experiences of migration and survival in close connection with land and sea. At the same time, the program will be forward-looking and highlight visions for a diverse, sustainable future. The program is organised around three thematic clusters: Belonging, Place, and Creativity. Engaging in majlis sessions on key topics, participants have the opportunity to share their experiences as artists, tradition-bearers and cultural experts.
Approximately 85 invited participants and presenters will make up the UAE delegation, representing a broad range of cultural heritage skills and knowledge. This will be the first time that the UAE has been represented at the Festival, as well as the first Arab country since 2005. The program curation is based on collaborative research. We highly value the cooperation with many individuals and entities that make rich, accurate Festival programs possible.
The program team is lead by co-curators Michele Bambling and Rebecca Fenton, along with program coordinator Pablo Molinero Martinez.
For more information about the Smithsonian Festival, please open this link.
Zahidah Zeytoun Millie, Artist
‘Mangroves from the Water’ founder & curator
Mangroves from the Water (MFTW) 