A collaboration between ACAVA and Shubbak Festival 2025

Join us on Sunday 1 June for a special community sharing and celebration marking the culmination of Marking Narratives, a collaborative programme between ACAVA and Shubbak Festival, led by Syrian-born artist Issam Kourbaj.

Throughout May, participants from Arab and SWANA (Southwest Asian and North African) communities in West London took part in a series of creative workshops exploring mark-making as a form of cultural storytelling. Over five sessions, they experimented with stamping, drawing, and using found materials to reflect on themes of heritage, identity, memory, and belonging. This celebratory event offers a chance to see the artworks created during the workshops, hear directly from the artist and participants, and come together in a warm, inclusive space of community, creativity, and connection.

This programme is part of Shubbak Festival 2025, Europe’s largest festival of contemporary Arab culture.