Think Tent collaborative project and exhibition derived from the Sister Garden Exchange which Prof Ann Holt and Mohamed Sleiman Labat have been exploring and developing over the years, Think Tent is a performative exhibition of living arts and pedagogies. For the Think Tent series of conversations, we invited a number of contributors to joins us in person and online to present but also to engage with and enrich the conversations. 

In the first session, we invited Najla Mohamed Lamin, the director of Almasar Library Center to share with us her story, experience and the project of establishing an educational center aiming to provide the Saharawi kids with the possibility not only to access books and read them but also to learn, exchange and have fun, away from the scorching sun. The center also works on raising awareness about women health and wellbeing especially with regard to breast cancer and other health challenges. The center also provides educational activities on the environmental issues, they have a small seed bank and a community garden. They plant trees, read books, all while having fun and learning.

The second speaker was Asria Mohamed Taleb, a Saharawi artivist, journalist, and a human rights defender. Asria runs an incredible project called Jaimitna, a political and socially-enaged art project bringing the stories of 19 Saharawi women from the occupied zones of Western Sahara through their melhfas, the Saharawi dresses. The project have been travelling to different places including, The Saharawi refugee camps in Tindouf, Madrid, Spain, Geneva and Basel in Switzerland and more.

The third speaker was Mohamed Salem Moamed Ali, an award-winning artist and environmental activist who runs The Nomad Garden project, an experimental site in Samara camp and a food garden. Think Tent exhibition screened Mohamed Salem short film The Nomad Garden and then we delved into a conversation with the artist about the latest developments, updates and experimentations he is working on, more details on that will be add here.