Dear Laila

Basel Zaraa (Palestine/UK)

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Sat Jan 20 12:20-7:20, every 20min
Sun Jan 21 12:20-7:20, every 20min
Tue Jan 23 12:20-7:20, every 20min
Wed Jan 24 12:20-7:20, every 20min
Thu Jan 25 12:20-7:20, every 20min
Fri Jan 26 12:20-7:20, every 20min
Sat Jan 27 12:20-7:20, every 20min
Tue Jan 30 12:20-7:20, every 20min
Wed Jan 31 12:20-7:20, every 20min
Thu Feb 1 12:20-7:20, every 20min
Fri Feb 2 12:20-7:20, every 20min
Sat Feb 3 12:20-7:20, every 20min

Boca del Lupo's Studio: The Fishbowl on Granville Island

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“Dear Laila, you are five now and have started to ask me where I grew up, and why we can’t go there. This is me trying to give you an answer.”

The seeds of this award-winning immersive experience were planted when artist Basel Zaraa’s five-year-old daughter, Laila, began to ask him about his childhood home, Al Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus. Unable to take her there, Zaraa decided he would bring the place to her.

Dear Laila shares the Palestinian experience of displacement and resistance through the story of one family, exposing how war and exile infiltrate the everyday and the domestic. In this intimate, interactive installation for one, we explore a model of the home Zaraa grew up in. Open drawers. Leaf through photo albums. Look at the pictures on the wall. Be silent and reflect on the stories of this family, hidden in plain sight.

Dear Laila speaks to joy, family and the beauty of community.

This production is presented in partnership with Boca del Lupo and their Micro Performance Series.

Artist Basel Zaraa was interviewed on the PuSh Play podcast by Gabrielle Martin, Director of Programming. Listen to the podcast episode here.

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Artist Bio

Basel Zaraa (Palestine/UK)

Basel Zaraa is a UK-based Palestinian artist whose work uses the senses to bring audiences closer to experiences of exile and the search for identity. His current project, Dear Laila, is an interactive installation that recreates his destroyed family home in Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus. His previous work includes ‘As Far As My Fingertips Take Me’, a collaboration with Tania El Khoury, which was awarded outstanding production at the Bessie Awards in 2019. His work has been shown at over 40 venues and festivals across five continents.