Rabab Ghazoul

CURATOR /COMMUNITY ACTIVIST

Born in Mosul, Iraq, Rabab Ghazoul is an artist, curator, cultural leader and director/founder of Cardiff-based organisation Gentle/Radical. Working for over 20 years at the intersections of art, culture, equalities and social justice, Rabab has championed critical debates on decoloniality, power and privilege within Wales and how these can inform the modelling of radical change within the context of small nations. Working with diverse communities for over two decades, specifically BAME women, Rabab has been a consistent voice in challenging tick-box culture and the limitations of diversity and inclusion policies that all too often tokenise marginalised groups and perpetuate historical exclusions.

Rabab was one of five artists to represent Iraq at the Iraqi Pavillion at the 2015 Venice Biennale, and as an artist has contributed widely across Wales to a cultural practice grounded in socially engaged approaches to visual/contemporary art, and its focus on centring communities, marginal voices, and untold narratives.

In 2004 she founded the Gentle/Radical Film Club, the longest running community film project in the UK specifically devoted to minority ethnic audiences. As director of Gentle/Radical, the organisation she founded in 2016, she oversees cultural projects which engage national and international practitioners in programmes addressing the power of the arts, social justice and reparation work, climate change, faith and leadership, and the reframing of access, equity and inclusion. As a practising Buddhist for 25 years, she also leads an interfaith network focusing on the links between radical contemporary spiritualities, social justice, and community regeneration.

Category: Politics & Social Reform
Location: Cardiff
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