A State of Passion // Screening introduced by Richard Fung

Saturday 6 September, 6:30 pm // 
Granderson Lab, 24 Erthig Road, Belmont, POS

The documentary film A State of Passion (2024; dir. Carol Mansour and Muna Khalid) is a powerful, unsparing portrait of British-Palestinian surgeon Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah, and his efforts to force the world to confront the truth about the horrific violence unfolding in Gaza. In October 2023, at the start of Israel’s bombing campaign, he travelled to Gaza to work in the emergency rooms of Gaza’s Al Shifa and Al Ahli hospitals. After 43 days working round the clock under constant bombardment, Abu-Sittah emerged to find himself as a face of Palestinian resistance.

Forced by the destruction of hospital facilities and his own deteriorating health to return to the UK, Abu-Sittah reunited with his wife and children, but continued his campaign to keep the world’s attention focused on the ongoing genocide. A State of Passion follows him on his journeys across the Middle East and Europe, bearing witness both to the overwhelming horrors he encounters and his quest for justice in circumstances that seem impossible.

This free screening, open to all, is introduced by Trinidadian Canadian filmmaker Richard Fung and supported by Trinbagonians for Palestine, fLim club, and IGDS IGNITE. Educational materials and activities, including Palestinian cola, will be available before the screening.

UN|FOLD

Saturday 9 August, 2025, from 4 to 8 pm
Granderson Lab 

 

Launched in 2024 by Alice Yard in collaboration with SPEC*, UN|FOLD is a small publishing fair where DIY/micro-publishers, zinemakers, and artists experimenting with print media can show, swap, and sell their work.

The first edition of UN|FOLD was held on 27 July, 2024, with a subsequent “making day” (Cut, Paste, Stamp, Draw) on 7 September, 2024.

UN|FOLD brings together publishers, writers, and artists in Trinidad and Tobago exploring small-scale, non-commercial publishing strategies and formats — zines, chapbooks, pamphlets, posters, postcards, broadsides, and more. We are interested in the aesthetics and the ethics of the hand-made, the durability of the analogue, the possibilities of the gift/barter economy, and the freedoms offered by occupying one’s own means of production.

UN|FOLD 2025 includes projects by the following participants/exhibitors:

Argotiers Press
Andre Bagoo
Celina Besson
Christopher Cozier
Lesley Garcia
Michelle Isava
Lloyd Best Institute of the Caribbean
Neala Luna
Shannon Mohammed
Renee Rampersadsingh | AnugrahaYogaTT
Candice V. Sankarsingh
Mahrinna Shareef
Terry Singh
SPEC*
Portia Subran
Raquel Vasquez La Roche
Toof Press

Keep in touch:
aliceyard.org / @aliceyardinsta / helloaliceyard@gmail.com
@spec.zine / spec.zines@gmail.com

Lara Dahlmann: Swamp Nights

Thursday 30 January, 2025, from 6.30 pm
Granderson Lab

 

Lara Dahlmann has been artist in residence at Alice Yard since the end of December 2024, working from Granderson Lab. On the evening of Thursday 30 January, she will present the results of her five-week creative and research residency, Swamp Nights.

She writes:

During my first visit to Trinidad in 2000, I was invited on a boat tour through the Caroni Swamp. That moment, as we slowly drifted past the mangrove forest, touched me and also left a lasting visual impression. The strange, almost dance-like beauty of the aerial roots is still vivid in my mind. In my artistic works, I engage with my surroundings, responding with site-specific installations. In this process, I have discovered paper as a sculptural element, both two- and three-dimensional. Over time, the drawings have gained autonomy, transitioning into cut-outs.

The tropical subject has always been metamorphic, meaning it is in constant change — a cycle of creation and decay. At Granderson Lab, I have used the space and time to create a site-specific installation that stages a dreamlike unreal state that, for me, interprets the melancholy and utopia of the tropical context.

All are invited. The installation can also be viewed from Friday 31 January to Sunday 2 February, by arrangement with the artist.

The evening will also include a reading of new creative work by writer Hassan Ali.

—

Lara Dahlmann lives and works in Hamburg. She studied at HAW Hamburg and received a travel grant from the DAAD to Trinidad. Her artistic development includes residencies in Buenos Aires, Curaçao, and Cape Town. In 2019, she participated in the Architektursommer Hamburg and was invited to the prestigious Thupelo Workshop in South Africa. In her works, Dahlmann engages intensively with her surroundings and the peculiarities of spaces, responding with site-specific installations.