Azza Abou Alam is a graduate from the American University of Sharjah with a Bachelors in Interior Design. She is one of 19 Emiratis and long term residents of the UAE who took part in this year’s internship programme with the National Pavilion of the UAE in Venice. Spending one month living and working in the city, with the guidance of students from a local university, Azza is one of many interns who have shared their thoughts and feelings about the trip with The Art Blog in a diary style entry.
Here Azza writes:
“When was I around 8 years old, I saw a documentary on TV about a city that floats on water. There were no roads, no cars or vehicular transportation, just water. I was suddenly fascinated with this peculiar situation, ‘How do people move around the city?’ I asked myself. ‘Do they swim in the canals to go to work? Do they suffer from motion sickness from riding boats all day?’
As I grew older I came to know that the city in the film was the magical city of Venice. Even though when I was younger I couldn’t fathom the idea of living in a city that didn’t have roads, now I can’t imagine going back to driving around all day.
Venezia, in true Italian fashion, can be described by two perfect words in my dictionary, light and simple. The lightness in this city is indescribable; you can find it in the air, in the Venetians’ way of life, in the piazzas and campos and even in the fresh pastries. Walking around all day and crossing the endless bridges in this picturesque city cannot be understood unless you experience it yourself. Taking a pastry freely from coffee shops’ display or ordering a coffee and paying for it later is another sign of the simplicity of Venetian and Italian life. Listening to random music from balconies and cafes as you take a stroll adds to this lightness, it completes the ethereal feel this city has.
Ironically enough, former architects in centuries gone by wanted to imitate stone and heavy cladding on buildings by using plaster and lighter materials, in order to not add extra weight to the lagoon’s unstable foundation.
I have found a lot of connections between Venetian traditions and the city’s architecture. In the same way as people would wear Venetian masks at the famous carnival, builders and artisans would make masks for the houses and palazzos by using layers of plaster and painting frescos to imitate bricks. Another example is the library and bookshop Acqua Alta, which refers to the high tide phenomenon that hits Venice, usually in the winter months. The owner used gondolas as book displays, which could float if the tide rises and water would flow through the bookshop.
Finally, almost everyone is friendly and always smiling here, the people I’ve met in Venice have completed the image of this perfect city. I wouldn’t have had this enriching experience without them.”
Azza Abou Alam, currently works as an interior designer for the Government of Sharjah’s Department of Public Works. With an interest in architecture and design, she loves to visit design events and experience international masterpieces in this field. In her free time, she experiments with painting. Follow her adventures in Venice by following @veniceinterns and #veniceinterns on instagram and twitter, as well as her personal account on Instagram and twitter: @azza__a
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
Read more about the coronavirus
Al Jazira's foreign quartet for 2017/18
Romarinho, Brazil
Lassana Diarra, France
Sardor Rashidov, Uzbekistan
Mbark Boussoufa, Morocco
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Match info
Huddersfield Town 0
Chelsea 3
Kante (34'), Jorginho (45' pen), Pedro (80')
Match info
Uefa Champions League Group F
Manchester City v Hoffenheim, midnight (Wednesday, UAE)
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Brief scores
Toss India, chose to bat
India 281-7 in 50 ov (Pandya 83, Dhoni 79; Coulter-Nile 3-44)
Australia 137-9 in 21 ov (Maxwell 39, Warner 25; Chahal 3-30)
India won by 26 runs on Duckworth-Lewis Method
Points tally
1. Australia 52; 2. New Zealand 44; 3. South Africa 36; 4. Sri Lanka 35; 5. UAE 27; 6. India 27; 7. England 26; 8. Singapore 8; 9. Malaysia 3
UAE cricketers abroad
Sid Jhurani is not the first cricketer from the UAE to go to the UK to try his luck.
Rameez Shahzad Played alongside Ben Stokes and Liam Plunkett in Durham while he was studying there. He also played club cricket as an overseas professional, but his time in the UK stunted his UAE career. The batsman went a decade without playing for the national team.
Yodhin Punja The seam bowler was named in the UAE’s extended World Cup squad in 2015 despite being just 15 at the time. He made his senior UAE debut aged 16, and subsequently took up a scholarship at Claremont High School in the south of England.
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
What are the influencer academy modules?
- Mastery of audio-visual content creation.
- Cinematography, shots and movement.
- All aspects of post-production.
- Emerging technologies and VFX with AI and CGI.
- Understanding of marketing objectives and audience engagement.
- Tourism industry knowledge.
- Professional ethics.
