Nermin Habib

This project redefines “balcony” as a statement, a unique platform for communication, an extension of personal space and a breathing space of the sort we all need. The work reflects the artist’s own experiences with personal space in an environment where urban change has encroached on that space to devastating effect. It discusses bodily movement in relation to inherited cultural attitudes towards the body, and explores how to forge an outlet in a social context that rejects all arts that use the body as a means of expression, especially for women. Through the use of the languages of contemporary dance, martial arts and belly dance, the work tests the ability to recover from the pandemic by questioning how to find and rediscover alternative spaces for release and different ways to carry on.