COLD CUTS is the zine empowering a young generation of queer Arabs

At 30, Beirut-based artist Mohamad Abdouni is making a name for himself with a rich practice that spans publishing and film. From documentary filmmaking to a photo series, Abdouni is sharing the personal stories of the Arab LGBTQI+ community in the Middle East and beyond, at a time when discrimination is high.

Driven by a desire to take back control over the queer Arab narrative, in 2017 Abdouni created COLD CUTS, a photo journal exploring queer culture and the Middle East. As the editor, he collects, curates and preserves the histories of queer Arabs, giving them the much-needed platform they too often lack.

From one queer Arab to another, we discuss the need for documenting our history and the importance of forming a community.

Iman El Kafrawi: Can you tell me about the driving force behind COLD CUTS?

Mohamad Abdouni: COLD CUTS came about from this frustration of not having much documentation of queer Arab culture. Our history is very rich, but we have very little documentation of it. We aim to change that. We aim to document history through text, photography and moving image for future generations of Arab LGBTQI+ individuals around the world.  COLD CUTS is basically for anyone who is interested in knowing more about queer Arab culture, whether they’re Arab, or queer or not. But, most importantly it’s for us.

How do you feel about making this contribution to collecting and preserving our narratives and histories in this particular moment?

I think I’m far from being the only one doing so, but I feel like I’m in the right place, at the right time. I’m very lucky to be witnessing what’s happening. I’m very happy to be contributing to this archive of our history. I’m blessed, but I feel like it’s an enormous responsibility at the same time. I think this is why questions such as this one make feel a bit anxious, because I look around and feel this sense of responsibility. It’s hard to know how it makes me feel — but I’m just happy to be doing what I’m doing. I think it’s extremely important work and it needs to be done.

Visibility is so important — and COLD CUTS is creating visibility for us, queer Arabs, in a society where we don’t often see ourselves. Why is this so important for you?

Visibility for any community is important, especially right now. Now is the time where being queer and Arab is seen as ‘sexy’ — it’s a ‘sexy’ story for a lot of foreign publications and platforms. So, it’s not just about creating visibility, because some visibility does exist. But it’s about creating truthful documentation from within the community. Telling our own stories and taking back control of our narrative. Just something that says: ‘we’re here’.

What do you hope people will take away from the stories in COLD CUTS?

With some stories, we just want to inform. With others, we want to reminisce. We want to move thing forward, be activists and move the world forward in terms of the way of thinking.

How do you hope this will help future generations?

I do hope this will help future generations of queer Arabs everywhere in the world. When I was growing up, we didn’t have anyone in the community that we could look for support from and relate to — apart from figures in western queer culture. Whether it was from sitcoms like Will and Grace or documentaries like Paris is Burning — which are fantastic things that create so much visibility. But as queer Arabs, there’s only so much we can relate to because at the end of the day — it’s not really part of our culture.

Although it was frustrating growing up, I was definitely very thankful for the representation of queer culture in western media. But I always felt like I wanted more. I wanted something that was closer to home. This is what we’re doing, trying to create something that queer Arabs everywhere in the world can relate to. So they can feel close to home and feel less alone than how we felt.

Your work as a photographer and filmmaker is raw and intimate. How do you go about capturing this every day, undistorted view?

It really depends. I like documenting our culture in different ways. I enjoy the intimacy — getting to know someone’s life in an intimate way and telling their personal story, which might help someone else feel something, feel relatable. But I also create an archive of the people, the happenings, the eventful, the nightlife and the everyday of our community.

To me, your work creates a sense of belonging and community. What does belonging and community mean to you?

Belonging and community is everything to me. It falls in line with family and I think as queer Arabs we have a bond that’s unlike anything else. Queer Arabs all over the world form this family bond. Wherever you are in the world, there’s automatically this love straight away. I think it’s something so special and so beautiful that you can’t really find anywhere else.

You recently released a special edition of COLD CUTS, entitled Doris & Andrea, which is currently being exhibited in Paris as a photo series. Can you tell us more about it?

Doris & Andrea is about family and queerness. It’s the story of Doris, a mother and her son, Andrea. It explores family in a part of the world where so-called Middle Eastern values are so important. Where values come before love. But this is a family where love comes and trumps everything else, it’s something that we don’t see every day in this part of the world.

What can we expect to see in the next issue of COLD CUTS?

You can expect a lot of stories from all around the world. A big part of the issue is about queerness within Middle Eastern families. There’s also a big part about our past and the people that paved the way — including a lot of veteran Queer performers and activists. We also share the history of gay culture of Beirut in the nineties. As well as, stories of QPOC from London. I don’t want to give out too much… But, it’s shaping up to be something quite fantastic!

Doris & Andrea is currently exhibited Institute of Islamic Culture in Paris, as part of C’est Beyrouth from March 27 until July 28, 2019