The artists taking on Middle Eastern censorship

Due to underlying political messages, some contributors prefer to create work under a pseudonym, while others don’t necessarily have political motives. Some contributors, like 27-year-old Nour Sokhon, just want new audiences to hear their work.

The Lebanese sound artist lived in Dubai for over 22 years, and, after getting her master’s at The Glasgow School of Art in sound for the moving image, she pursued a career dedicated to archiving memory.

‘Dubai is a strange place to grow up in,’ Sokhon says. While she appreciates its business benefits, the ever-changing landscape affects your memory.

‘So I started recording construction, people and other sounds that would help create memories,’ she says. Where 2D imagery is limited, sound helps her capture any of the culture or history lost to conflict and disasters.

Sokhon speaks to me from Beirut in broken speech. The power in her area has been fluctuating for days. ‘We’re living every day with a new surprise,’ she says. Currency, fuel, and food prices are only some of the issues on Beirut’s list.

It’s not the only problem on Sokhon’s radar, either. In the past, she says freedom of expression was more secure. Today, she and other artists are having to use their mediums to protest the control constantly being forced on them. ‘It’s almost like we’re going backwards,’ she continues.

In July 2020, a coalition was formed defending free speech, but a year has passed and nothing seems to have improved.

The artist is not only worried about the consequences this has on human rights, but the mass exodus it’s causing in the art world. ‘If we leave for good, what’s going to be left of the culture?’

She says a lot of artwork disappears into a ‘black hole’, and that this could change if the international community helped encourage and fund artists so their work captures the Middle East but is viewed worldwide.

Rezaei agrees that the most basic human rights — free speech, safety, home, and love — should be upheld everywhere.

‘Those who are privileged have a responsibility to use their voice and means to raise awareness,’ she says. ‘And those who have power should make positive and peaceful changes for all.’

Sokhon feels her skill to express via sound gives her the privilege she needs to raise awareness on censored issues. Her work uses multiple mediums to translate history into something more publicly digestible.

Some of her long-term projects, in collaboration with other artists, teachers and historians, look to address forgotten issues — such as the Beirut port explosions — and educate upcoming generations. ‘So they have a brighter future to look forward to.’