خيوط من الهوية: رحلة الفنانين الكويرين من منطقتي جنوب غرب آسيا وشمال أفريقيا في برشلونة Despite Queerness always existing as an essential aspect of human identity, the experiences surrounding queerness differ depending on the geography and history in which a queer person is born. The challenges that come with being queer in the SWANA region (South-West Asia and North Africa), or what is often referred to as the Arab World, are endlessly webbed with threads constructed from a past rich with both glorious and disappointing events to a present limited by traditions, religion, politics, and socioeconomic chains. On these entangled threads, Queer artists from the SWANA region always joined the camp for individual liberties; each in their own way scratching and even tearing the web through their art. Here are mine and four stories of SWANA Artists in Barcelona out of many. على الرغم من أن الكويرية كانت دائماً جزءاً أساسياً من الهوية البشرية إلا أن التجارب المحيطة بالهوية الكويرية تختلف باختلاف الجغرافيا والتاريخ الذي يولد فيها المغايرين جنسيًا، حيث تتشابك التحديات التي يواجهونها في منطقتي الشرق الأوسط وشمال أفريقيا بخيوط معقدة مصنوعة من ماضٍ غني بالأحداث المجيدة والمخيبة للآمال وحاضر محدود بالتقاليد والدين والقيود السياسية والاقتصادية. على هذه الشبكة دائماً ما ينضم المبدعين من الكويريين إلى معسكر الحريات الفردية لكسر هذه القيود من خلال أعمالهم.
 في هذا المقال سنتطرق إلى قصتي وقصص أربعة مبدعين من منطقتي الشرق الأوسط وشمال أفريقيا ومقيمين في مدينة برشلونة الإسبانية ✦ ✦ ✦ Photography: @sebastien_nvsd | Kimono by @dystopiaclothing Hadi; the Artivist Hadi is a filmmaker, photographer, and performer from Tripoli, Lebanon. His ultra persona is also a known figure for queer Arabs that live in Barcelona. However, before the birth of the famously face-covered Salma Zahore, Hadi co-founded the production company H7O7 for all kinds of film and photos where their work is either commercial for their clients or personal where he expresses himself artistically. He considers himself to be an Artivist against injustices, where he mixes art and activism to battle racism and queerphobia. In his hybrid films, as he refers to them, he blends genres such as documentary, fashion, dance, and experimental in order to talk about what’s happening today. Hadi’s ethnic identity wasn’t expressed much up until arriving in France. “At the beginning of my life in the West, I tried to distance myself from my Lebanese and Arab culture to prove myself to Western society,” Hadi said before explaining how his mindset changed when he started accepting his identity and cherishing it before his queerness and culture took center stage in the fabulous belly-dance vogue performances of his persona Salma. Hadi’s work is focused on visibility, especially on social media, to bring queer Arab representation under the spotlight and change how queer people see themselves and how hetero-normative societies view queerness. In his words, “The world outside of one’s self or community can be both cruel and beautiful,” consequently elaborating on why a community that uplifts one another comes in handy for Hadi. هادي؛ الناشط الفني هادي هو مخرج أفلام …