ABOUT US
Ya Leil is a party that leaks beyond the edges of the dance floor.
A place where extraordinary music from the Arab world, presented and re-mixed by DJ Gemma, meets with sumptuous visual and performance art by local queer Arab artists.
Ya Leil offers multi-sensory experiences creating new languages to uncover personal and collective stories.
A chance to experience the transformative capabilities of art, music and encounters with beauty; with an intention to foster new ways of perceiving and being in the world.
DJ Gemma and Nicole Barakat are Sydney based Arab artists presenting contemporary Arab culture from a queer perspective. They have collaborated for a number of years exploring expressions of queer Arab imaginations through queer Arab cultural production.
Primarily working with music, sound, visual and performance art, the artists are engaged in developing progressive and affirming art, events and experiences for queer people, particularly those of colour and those who identify with Arab culture.
Their projects challenge and subvert conservative norms, shifting and repositioning the perceived Other from the perceived margins. Their collaborative approach examines the transformative capabilities of art, music and encounters with beauty; with an intention to create new ways of perceiving and being in the world.
DJ GEMMA
DJ Gemma (of Club Arak and Club Kooky fame) has been inspiring audiences and making people dance for over twenty-five years. She utilises her position to expose non-Western perceptions of sound and to subvert the limitations of mainstream dance music.
Gemma creates atmospheres with music that transcend the body and move energies. Of her extensive experience with Arabic music, she says;
The music brings a celebration of life with it where you can't help but feel happy, this is something I want to share with the people around me. The sounds take you up and drop you from a height, only to bring you back up again. These ancient rhythms are so deeply embedded, they are part of the breath, they're in every pore of the body. They are circular rhythms, where the music wraps itself around you. These rhythms know who they are. I want people to be able to lose themselves in it, it's about inviting the fire of Arabic music to the dance floor.
DJ Gemma is best known for events including Club Arak (including the Club Arak CD 2006), Club Kooky and Club Bent at Performance Space. She has played at Womadelaide, Biennale of Sydney, Bellingen Global Music Festival, Peats Ridge Festival, Tropical Fruits, Mardi Gras, Queer Screen, Sydney Festival and Feast Festival Adelaide.
She has also provided sounds for performance art events including Guillermo Gomez Pena's Museum of Fetishized Identities and Aerialize's Walking on Air and fashion designers including Akira Isogawa and Jennifer Hawkins.
Photo: DJ Gemma Ya Leil Feb 2009 photo by Cleo Gardiner.
NICOLE BARAKAT
Nicole Barakat is an artist and also known on the stage as Wife. Her practice centres on material and aesthetic languages embodied in the manipulation of familiar materials and processes. She often uses her body as a site for artistic practice.
Her work transcends the borders of art practice and cultural production, often employing a number of disciplines and strategies including, drawing, sculpture, installation, textiles, performance, writing, story telling and collaboration.
She says,
Through my practice, I aim to conjure alternative ways of thinking, feeling and envisioning our ‘reality’. I see creativity and imagination at the forefront of my practice and commitment to positive social change.
Nicole has performed on stages in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide at events including; Club Arak (2004 - 2008), Quick + Dirty, Gurlesque, Hellfire Sydney, Upstart Alley and Feast Festival. She has exhibited her artwork widely and currently lectures in the Textiles department at the University of NSW, College of Fine Arts in Sydney.
Photo: Nicole Barakat durational performance at Ya Leil Feb 2009 photo by Josephine Ki http://www.josephineki.com.au)
Image: artwork by Nicole Barakat