Maps hold unparalleled storytelling potential and can help form collective opinion and build public morale without ever being free from political charge. Every map is an abstraction, and the designer decides what to exclude and what to include, what is irrelevant and what is important.

In this counter-mapping exercise/workshop, Imad Gebrael and Hatem el Salem will explore the struggles for nature access, clean air and water, and public parks in the Wedding—which are as old as the neighbourhood itself—by following mundane landmarks of everyday living and consuming.

Its radical political history is closely linked to the struggle for “green” spaces and environmental justice. The workshop, which takes place in the framework of the artistic research project Grasping Things At The Root: Red Wedding & The Green Revolt’ curated by Nyabinghi Lab, explores environmental justice as a racial and classist crisis in the neighbourhood of Wedding, taking the everyday as a starting point. The act of counter-mapping gives insights into the historical mechanisms of green (in)equity and imagines future perspectives for equal access to nature and health in urban spaces.

Workshop Hosts: Imad Gebrael and Hatem el Salem

Photo Credits: Walter Pinkney, courtesy of Nyabinghi Lab 2022