For Many Returns
In this deeply personal and poetic lecture, Himada experiments with a form of art writing they have been developing for years, one that moves beyond critical analysis toward relational engagement and love letters to artworks. Inspired by Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme's video work and installation Until we became fire and fire us (2023–ongoing) the piece weaves together memory, grief, and anti-colonial methodology through intimate storytelling. They explore the concept of "kinetic memory" as a tool for resistance, drawing connections between Palestinian return, Indigenous sovereignty, and the power of remembering as a form of resurrection. Central to the work is the phrase "For Many Returns"—a concept Himada unpacks as both practice and promise.
Nasrin Himada is a Palestinian curator and writer. Their practice is heavily influenced by their long term friendships and by their many on-going collaborations with artists, filmmakers and poets. Nasrin’s ongoing project, For Many Returns, experiments with writing as an act dictated by love, and typifies their current curatorial interests, which foreground desire as transformation, and liberation through many forms. Nasrin currently holds the position of Associate Curator at Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen’s University in Kingston).
This Big Ideas in Art + Culture lecture is produced by CAFKA and Musagetes and presented at Cambridge Centre for the Arts