Maissa Alameddine & Narjis Mirza - Mohabbat, a Lullaby for a Rising.

Multi-disciplinary artists Maissa Alameddine and Narjis Mirza share a practice of working collaboratively with their communities, developing contemporary stories grounded in their diasporic experiences. Stemming from their recent collaboration at The Leo Kelly Blacktown Arts Centre, Maissa and Narjis continue to further explore the sacred practice of the lullaby. This new work is rooted in the lullaby’s power to preserve and transmit stories across generations. From soothing songs to melodies of resistance, lullabies galvanize us to envision a decolonised world with true liberation. Mohabbat, a Lullaby for a Rising uses voice, installation and projection on sites across unceded Dharug Land in Blacktown and Gadigal Land at Sydney Harbour.

Produced by Blacktown Arts and filmed by Matthew McGuigan.

Maissa Alameddine grew up in Tripoli Lebanon and now lives and works on the unceded lands of the Cammeraygal and Dharug peoples. Maissa is a multidisciplinary artist, vocalist, performer, and creative producer working across a range of mediums.

Maissa’s work explores the idea of migration as a chronic injury. Maissa inherited her voice from a long line of women vocalists, she uses voice as a provocation and a response. Her work is personal, exploring inheritance and transference of heritage in the complexity of what is coined by Lebanese Australian anthropologist, Ghassan Hage as the ‘lenticular diasporic existence’. Her interpretive song and music is an attempt to honour her ancestors.

Maissa has been part of the contemporary Arab Australian arts community for over twenty years, performing with Arabic music ensembles, Western orchestras, and art organisations. She is a founding member and one of the creative producers of Western Sydney-based Arab Theatre Studio.

Narjis Mirza is a media installation artist who orchestrates a poetic, philosophical, and spiritual exploration of light through sensory installations. Her work encompasses large-scale light and sound installations, seamlessly integrating projection, animation, video, textile, and voice. Through immersive experiences, she invites viewers to actively participate, transforming her artworks into interactive events.

Initially trained as a painter, Narjis graduated with the highest honour of distinction from the National College of Arts in Pakistan before pursuing a Master’s in Media and Design at Bilkent University, Ankara. Her journey led her to exhibit her work in Iran, Turkey, and Pakistan. In 2017, she was honoured with the Vice Chancellor’s Doctoral Scholarship, culminating in a practice-led PhD at Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand. Narjis contributed to the development of interactive participatory media art at the Interactive Media Lab, University of New South Wales.

Her research has produced a body of work, notably the multisensory installation Hayakal al Noor, Bodies of Light, inspired by Islamic philosophy, and her latest work, Rahma: Our Creative Feminine.