Live Performance: Baba, Come To Me

Baba, Come to me, a live reading performance by Farah Barqawi, 20 min, Arabic with English and French subtitles.

“But every once in a while, after his necessary evening nap, I’d enjoy picking the scattered hairs off his back. This might’ve been the only act of love we had both agreed upon practicing. No wait, let me think again.”

In a letter written to a curious friend, a rediscovery of a relationship between a father and daughter begins. Through cassette recordings and personal reflections, a daughter attempts to understand the feelings and behavior of a man towards his child who has now become a woman. This woman navigates a love-hate relationship, opposing choices, a shattered Palestinian family, a distant father, and reconciliation.

Farah Barqawi is a Palestinian writer, performer, translator, and editor who was born in the Yarmuk Camp, Damascus, and currently lives in Cairo. In between, she lived in Gaza, Dubai, Chicago, and Beirut. She co-founded the “The Uprising of Women in the Arab World” and “Wiki Gender”, and writes poetry, prose, and articles.