Lina Issa

Biography

Multidisciplinary artist Lina Issa (Lebanon, 1981) uses a range of media to investigate the tension between the personal and the universal, both alone and in cooperation with others. In her work, she reflects on issues such as (cultural) identity and memory, including personal versus collective memories.

In 2019 her first novel, Waar we niet zijn, was published – an adaptation of one of her theatre projects, for which she sent a representative to the Lebanon to carry out genealogical research as she was temporarily unable to leave the Netherlands because of an outstanding residence permit application. This stand-in carried out the various tasks and acted as messenger, recording device and alter ego. Waar we niet zijn is an attempt to create a cartography of an inner landscape.

In the autumn of 2018, Lina Issa participated in an edition of Stadslab as part of Frascati’s De (on)vertelde stad programming strand. Together with former police commissioner Lex Verzijlbergen, an expert in the field of PTSD in police officers, she spoke with various police officers diagnosed with PTSD. On the basis of these open, candid conversations, Lina Issa then created a proposal for a production on the ways in which our identities and bodies are marked by trauma. She is currently developing this project in cooperation with Frascati Producties and the Amsterdam police.
 
Multidisciplinary artist Lina Issa lives and works in Amsterdam. She graduated from the Graphic Design programme at the American University of Beirut (2002), then left the Lebanon to participate in a postgraduate research community in Fine Arts at the Jan Van Eyck Academie in Maastricht (2003-2005). She then obtained a Master’s in Visual Arts from the Piet Zwart Institute Rotterdam (2006).

Productions

• Research project as part of Stadslab #2 / De (on)vertelde stad (Frascati Producties 2018)