Nehal El-Hadi | نهال الهادي

i wrote about black mothers, surveillance, and working in theatre for the canadian theatre review special issue on creative care, edited by lisa marie diliberto and @shira_leuchter . grateful for an opportunity to write about something that has been on my mind while in residency at @thetheatrecentre .

Nehal El-Hadi wants you to know that you’re being watched. Through the Residency program with The Theatre Centre, her project The Observer Effect turns that interest in surveillance back on the audience, and asks us whether we really know what happens to our data. “You don’t really know who’s collecting your information, what they’re doing with it. And because of that, I was really curious about what kind of information was being collected, who owned that information, and whether people had access to their own data or not.” Learn more about Nehal’s work and process in this interview with The Theatre Centre! Blog available to read by following the link in our bio 🔗

What can we learn about sand through its representations in media? From the simple hourglass to Tatooine’s vast desert landscape, Nehal El-Hadi explains how sand’s symbolic meanings reflect (or expose) social values. @iamnehal In the latest GEEX Shorts episode, Nehal El-Hadi answers a round of rapid-fire questions. Topics include: artists she’s currently interested in; favorite comfort watches; preferred places to learn; and some flawless emoji impressions. ⚡ “For the 2024 Met Gala, Tyla wore a dress for Balmain made out of sand, and she carried a purse that was an hourglass. And it was in direct reference to the sands of time,” Nehal explains. “And the amount of people who sent me that dress...?” she adds, laughing. “Was also pretty amazing.” “Anakin and Padmé are having this conversation in "Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones." She starts talking about remembering her childhood, and how some of her fondest memories were spending time on the beach. Anakin grew up on Tatooine, where he was living this life of indentured servitude, and it became this way [that the] class difference between them [was] magnified.” Watch “Time, Kitchen Tables, and Sand in Pop Culture” now on YouTube! This short segment is part of Nehal's GEEX Talks episode, accessible in the GEEX Talks Subscriber Archive. Thanks to Wet Dog Glass for sponsoring this episode! @wdg_us ➜ Watch Nehal El-Hadi’s GEEX Shorts episodes now! Link in bio.

“There’s something really beautiful about the poetics of sand as a metaphor for collective action,” says Nehal El-Hadi. @iamnehal “What one grain can do, as opposed to hundreds of thousands and millions of grains,” she explains. “One grain can be an irritant that could provoke a change, or can stop a movement, can create friction or resistance. Many grains collectively together: that's a sandstorm, that's a weathering, that's a heap, that's a dune.” Jesse Chartier, a student at Hastings College in Nebraska, posed a question to GEEX Talks speaker Nehal El-Hadi about unexpected lessons about community from her research into sand. @hastingscollegeart @hastingscollege “Through my research, I've collaborated a lot with artists and craftspeople and makers, from puppeteers to creative technologists to illustrators, and what that has done has helped me learn more about sand as a material in and of itself, and how to relate to it as matter and material.” The community is the curriculum. Throughout the year, students, educators, and members of GEEX's subscribing schools and partner organizations are encouraged to submit questions for GEEX Talks speakers. Keep an eye on your inbox for calls for questions for upcoming speakers! Watch "Sand, Community, and Collective Action" on YouTube! This short segment is part of Nehal's GEEX Talks episode, accessible in the GEEX Talks Subscriber Archive. Thanks to Wet Dog Glass for sponsoring this episode! @wdg_us ➜ Watch Nehal El-Hadi’s GEEX Shorts episode now! Link in bio.

"Brilliant storytellers" 🏜️ Greenhouse Festival audiences are raving about 𝗥𝗮𝗺𝗹𝗮 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘁 - "Blown Away, "A delight! A marvel! A freakin' wonder to behold" Don't miss the last two performances: Tomorrow at 7:30PM Jan. 31 at 7:30PM 𝗥𝗮𝗺𝗹𝗮 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘁 Writer/Producer Nehal El-Hadi Director Mabel Wonnacott Puppet/Animation Designer Heather Piper Composer Waleed Abdulhamid Ft. Josimar Tulloch, Keira Forde, Kendra Beneby, Kabrena Robinson 📸 By Jae Yang (@silentjae )

“Ramla and the Desert is a fairytale-style story that came out of me trying to emotionally process, rationalize, and make sense of desert disappearances.” @iamnehal “It was a friend of mine, a while ago, who had said to me that fairy tales emerged out of trauma — and this is a fairy tale-like story that [emerged] out of trauma,” Nehal explains. “Not my own, but a traumatic event that keeps on happening to people over and over again.” “I've been researching desert borders and became aware of the scale of migrants and refugees disappearing in the Sahara. If you can't count people, you don't have to account for them. It's a documented border control strategy which weaponizes the desert to disappear people trying to cross into other countries.” “I was finding out all of this information and trying to make sense of it,” she shares. “And then the war in Sudan broke out, and what had been this academic study of testimony and documenting and other people became really, really personal. I didn't know how to process it… and to be honest, I still don't.” “The hope of [Ramla and the Desert] is that it draws attention to the plight of migrants in the Sahara, which also gives people a way to contend with grief and loss.” “Ramla and the Desert” is part of the Greenhouse Festival at Tarragon Theatre in Toronto. Festival passes and tickets for the 2025/26 season are available for: Tuesday, Jan. 27, Thursday, Jan. 29, and Saturday, Jan. 31. For more information, visit @tarragontheatreto ’s website! Written and produced by Nehal El-Hadi (@iamnehal ) Directed by Mabel Wonnacott (@mabelwonnacott ) Puppet design and animation by Heather Piper (@piedpiperpuppets ) Music by Waleed Abdulhamid (@waleedkushafrojazz ) Watch "Borders, Portals, and Speculative Fiction with Nehal El-Hadi" on YouTube to learn about "Ramla and the Desert" and other ongoing projects! This short segment is part of Nehal's GEEX Talks episode, accessible in the GEEX Talks Subscriber Archive. ➜ Watch Nehal El-Hadi’s GEEX Shorts episode now! Link in bio.

individual tickets for the first ever workshop production of ramla & the desert for @tarragontheatreto ’s greenhouse festival are now on sale. get them before they’re gone (it’s not a very big theatre). https://bit.ly/49TrLoH – link also in bio.

Water sequence test from the Greenhouse Residency at @tarragontheatreto for “Ramla and the Desert” written by @iamnehal directed by @mabelwonnacott and designed by @piedpiperpuppets Tickets on sale soon through Tarragon!

Next up in our Greenhouse Festival line up: 𝗥𝗮𝗺𝗹𝗮 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘁 🏜️ Ramla and the Desert is a shadow puppetry/live animation project that is a haunting, fantastical tale about desert disappearances. Written and produced by Nehal El-Hadi (@iamnehal ) Directed by Mabel Wonnacott (@mabelwonnacott ) Puppet design and animation by Heather Piper (@piedpiperpuppets ) Music by Waleed Abdulhamid (@waleedkushafrojazz ) January 27 @ 9:15PM January 29 @ 7:30PM January 31 @ 7:30PM Book your festival passes now - grab a 3-show pass for just $39! Head to the link in our bio for more info. Poster by Heather Piper

a scorpio playlist, mood, vibe, missive, offering. this birthday vibe. https://bit.ly/3WU2piD “This should give you an idea of how the influences of Earth and Moon, practically equal, fought over the space between them.” – The Distance of the Moon, Italo Calvino.

for the last little while, i’ve been working with @provoke_ideas on the great toronto ai novel project, an ambitious, critical conversation-starting ai project. we’re looking to get it off the ground, and you can hear me talk about it tonight on this panel for @festofauthors with some brilliant ai thinkers.