Alinah Azadeh (lead artist)
Alinah is a British -Iranian artist working internationally across media. Often involving the public through gift, ritual and dialogue, her works are collective meditations on loss, longing, conflict and connection, focusing on the role material culture and language play in our relationship to these themes. Installations include; The Gifts (2010, Bristol Museum and 2013, Zhejiang Art Museum China), Portraits of the Unseen (2010, National Portrait Gallery) and Child’s Play (2014, Imperial War Museum North /Asia Triennial Manchester). She is currently showing in The Beginnings of That Freedome, a group show of Banner works in Westminster Hall for the 2015 Historic Anniversaries ‘Parliament in the Making’ programme and has now finished a two year tour of Burning the Books, a collaborative performance project exploring the power of debt, supported by Arts Council England. www.alinahazadeh.com
Craig Larkin (academic consultant, researcher)
Craig is a lecturer in Comparative Politics of the Middle East in the Department of Middle East and Mediterranean Studies and Co-Director of the Centre for Conflict Resolution in Divided Cities at King’s College London. He holds a PhD in Middle East Studies, and MA in Criminology and Criminal Justice, and a BA (Hons) in Law and Politics. His first monograph Memory and Conflict in Lebanon: Remembering and Forgetting the Past was published by Routledge in January 2012. The research emerged from four years spent in the Middle East, studying Arabic at Damascus University, while also assisting in community development projects in Lebanon, Jordon and Iraq. His second co-authored book, The Struggle for Jerusalem’s Holy Places: Radicalisation and Conflict was published in 2013. Research associate on Conflict in Cities. He has just published a new book : The Alawis of Syria
Maria Pattinson (workshop co- deviser / leader)
Maria is a Theatre Director, workshop leader and trainer with twenty-five years of international experience in designing and delivering projects for a wide range of community and arts organisations. Her current portfolio of work includes: community development in East Africa, where she has initiated a Wellbeing Project in Tanzania for Muslim community leaders; leadership development programmes for the Muslim Council of Britain and the World Federation of Khoja Shia Ithna- Asheri Muslim Communities; Youth and Adult Mental Health First Aid training for Slough Public Health; director of The Pantry Project which runs creative art and food workshops with vulnerable young people, funded by Big Lottery and Arts Council of England.
In 2013 she graduated in a Masters in Ethical Leadership at King’s College London with distinction.Between 1998 – 2007 she set up and ran Theatre & Beyond, an Arts Council of England Regularly Funded Organisation which specialized in the development of new voices in theatre. She produced regular programmes of new work at the Brighton Festival and Chichester Festival Theatre and won the Peggy Ramsay Award for New Writing in 2005. She also received a maximum funding award from Stage One New Producers Bursary in 2008 for theatre.
Gini Simpson (project producer)
Gini Simpson is a cultural producer and consultant with specific interest in participation and diversity. She was previously of Head of Learning and Participation at the Barbican where she shaped and delivered new approaches to engagement with the arts, Senior Business Development Manager at Queen
Mary University, strategically developing public engagement and innovation and setting up and running Media Arts at SPACE (Studios).
Through A Wall 