Nadia

Basic

I met photographer Ernest Thiesmeier while working together on an editorial back in the Vice days and we immediately hit it off. When he asked me to write the essay for his book ‘Basic’, an ode to the infamous Basic Fit backpack in public spaces, I came up with a reflection about the appropriation of the “aesthetics of poor” by privileged artists. Instead of acting defensive and refusing the confrontational take, he gave me carte blanche and played the game.

You can read the result in his photo book ‘Basic’, if you can find one at your independent book shop. It’s also available online via (y) publishing. 

Festival van de Gelijkheid

Do politics have a place in nightlife? Is activism compatible with fun? As a retired party girl and forever militant, this subject has always fascinated me.

During the Festival van de Gelijkheid (Festival of Equality) in Ghent, I was invited to moderate a panel talk about Club Culture as a Form of Activism, featuring collective DakDak, Yasmine Dammak from Not Your Techno and Veronika Deneuve (Send In The Clowns).

We talked about authenticity, soft radicalism, accessibility and safety, and exchanged about our frustrations in an inspiring conversation.

Trix (Klankbad, Business As Usual…)

Over the course of the years, I have prepared and moderated a series of talks with the Antwerpian music house Trix: from understanding the music industry from the business side of things, to building a network, obtaining public funding, I’ve lead many passionated conversations with trusted professionals which helped young artists figure out their next career steps.

Love is thicker than blood

ould kaci family

It’s hard to put into words what it means to consider someone family. Blood, commitment, unconditional love – these are all components that may come to mind, but aren’t as easy to give and nurture consistently, especially through sickness, hardship, intergenerational trauma.

For Kulturaustausch’s “Im engsten Kreis ( IV/2023)” issue, I interviewed Mouss Ould Kaci and his children in Paris. Their profile first appealed to me because we share the same roots (Algerian), yet their family dynamics seemed completely different from what I’d always known.

I spent about 5 hours in their living room, talking about their life and sharing lots about my own woes, bonding with Mouss, his three biological daughters Sofia, Lili and Inès and his three chosen children Jackie, Lalla and Dourane. 

It was an incredibly healing experience, which I’ve tried my best to reflect in a little over 4000 words. What I love about this story is that it touches upon so many themes (Trans Identities, HIV, immigration…) yet it always comes back to one thing: love.

You can now read the full interview on Kulturaustausch’s website (EN/DE).

Cosmopolitan Japan

I’ve always been fascinated by Japan – I was even lucky enough to visit the country on my own back in 2018. Imagine my excitement when I was asked to contribute to not one but two of Cosmopolitan Japan’s series dedicated to sex and body positivity!

First, they asked me to answer a few questions about my favourite sex toy, you can read the interview here. 

I also made a video to describe my ‘period routine’, you can watch it here.

This kind of content is not just fun to make, it’s important to spread in order to normalize pleasure, consent, self-discovery and break taboos that are still very much present in Japan – and honestly, here as well.

Listen Festival

Growing up, we learn at school that history begins when people started writing, archiving, saving their experiences. Unfortunately, when it comes to the LGBTQIA+ community, people have been censored and archives have been carefully destroyed in a puritan effort to marginalize queer people and their experiences that persists until today.

How can we use queer collective memory as political action and reclaim our power as a community? How can we share our stories, be visible and present, to counter the violence of homophobia, transphobia and bigotry?

During the 2023 edition of Listen festival, I was invited to moderate an afternoon dedicated to Queer Archives, featuring keynotes and discussions with Mia Melvaer, Adam Zmith and Amelia Abraham.

Dag Zonder Arbeid

Every year since 1890, we celebrate Labor Day on the 1st of May. Labor Day symbolises an important struggle lead by workers and union throughout decades.

But did you know that in Belgium, there are still almost 2 million people without a job?

With Co-Searching, a non profit working to empower job seekers, I developed the campaign “Dag Zonder Arbeid” (No Labor Day), a day (May 2nd) to shine a light on unemployment and the people behind the statistics.

It is no secret: since the COVID crisis, employers in many industries are struggling to find staff and to keep their employees. This feeds a narrative that there are plenty of great jobs around for anyone willing to work, and would almost make you think job seekers are lazy and too demanding.

On the other hand, statistics show that 117500 Belgians are currently unable to work due to a depression or burn-out. Clearly, there is something we’re not doing right.

Co-Searching wanted to create awareness and counter the narrative that is currently pushed my media and governments, so we developed a series of flyers featuring shock, unsensitive quotes that working people regularly do about unemployed people. These flyers were distributed to commuters during rush hour and sent to relevant organisations and representatives.

“Just take away unemployment benefits, that’ll motivate them”

Q&A at Uilenspel’s inspirational day

nadia kara workshop

Uilenspel, a non profit connecting volunteers to underprivileged children in order to offer them assistance with school work, recently organised their ‘inspirational day’. This year’s focus: polarization and connection. 

In order to create dialogue, I hosted a Q&A during which participants could ask any questions they had about polarization, diversity, inclusion, racism, antiracism, etc. For the workshop, I decided to work with a “no taboo, no judgment” approach: the idea was to create a space where participants could ask anything that stood in the way of their learning process, and educate themselves with a better understanding of concepts like privilege, stereotypes, safe.r spaces and so on.

Participants also received a list of useful resources (books, articles, podcasts…) allowing them to work further on their education.

JAM (RTBF)

Since 2019, JAM has been documenting and promoting the alternative scene – and that’s a good thing! In a media landscape that tends to get stuck into a dull routine, focusing on the same artists and the same genres, a little curiosity and open-mindedness is refreshing. At the same time, we have to admit the alternative scene is full of caricatured characters, clichés that we love to hate and excessive egos: we bump into them at concerts and bars, we follow them on social media, and let’s be honest – there is a bit of them in each of us.

In my monthly column “Nadia se paye la scène alternative” (Nadia roasts the alternative scene), I explore these caricatures, hopefully allowing us to have a good laugh at ourselves.

Jam is a subdivision of RTBF, Belgium’s francophone public broadcasting organization.

J.E.F. x WANDA Panel talk

In collaboration with WANDA and deAuteurs, JEF (the youth film festival) invited industry professionals to think about how films and media can give a correct and honest representation of our society. Can young people recognize themselves in and feel respected by the audiovisual stories told today on cinema screens, television, through online channels? What steps do we take to make sure inclusive stories and processes become the norm on screens but also behind the scenes?

I was in charge of preparing and moderating this panel featuring writer Hinda Bluekens, filmmakers Kato De Boeck and Inès Eshun, and actress Nadège Bibo-Tansia.