Nasri Atallah

Meet our September cover star: Hend Sabry. One of the region’s most powerful voices, the Tunisian-Egyptian actress speaks with rare conviction about loss, meaning, and the weight her words carry - whether on screen, on stage, or in the public sphere. Shot in the heart of old Cairo by rising Egyptian photographer Hussein Mardini, this cover story is as much about strength as it is about renewal. Read the full interview by @whmullally through the link in bio, or pick up a copy of TN Magazine, available in today’s The National. I am incredibly proud of the first issue of the new TN Magazine, born from the legacy of The National’s Luxury magazine. I want to thank everyone who has helped this rebrand come to life across the entire organisation at The National and IMI, starting with EIC @aloraibi_mina who has believed in this from day one. Also, a special thanks to my long-suffering deputy Sarah Maisey for putting up with me. And thank you to all the brilliant editors, writers, photographers, videographers, creative team, web designers, developers, social teams, freelancers and many more who make something like this possible. TEAM Talent @hendsabry Photographer @husseinmardini Creative Direction @by.babylon Art Direction @muhammad.magedd Producer @salehjuniorr Line Producer @nourrismail Assistant Producer @lasheenn_1 Hair @silviahairstyling Make Up @makeupbyhabashi Production manager @mohaamedhossny Production by @unscene._ Location @bayt_yakan Special thanks to @kareemsamy and @adelkhalled at @Mad_solutions TN TEAM The National Editor-in-chief @aloraibi_mina Editor, TN Magazine @nasriatallah Deputy luxury editor and fashion director @sarah_maisey_ Art Director Gerald Du Creative director Nick Donaldson Picture editors Olive Obina, Scott Chasserot Sub-editors Aarti Jhurani, Panna Munyal

lifemaxxing

OFFICIAL U.S. POSTER | SWIM SISTAS Proud to share that the @swimsistasfilm North American premiere is confirmed at the Academy Award and BAFTA–qualifying @docnycfest , America’s largest documentary festival. Described by Artistic Director Jaie Laplante as “a collection of films that speak to urgent global, national, and personal matters,” DOC NYC celebrates the most groundbreaking new documentaries — and we’re so honoured to be part of that line-up. 🎬 Screening: November 14 at 4:15pm 📍 Venue: IFC Center, Theater 1 — Greenwich Village, NYC POSTER DESIGN Key art by the phenomenal @yajpeg Photography by @rob_youngson_photography SWIM SISTAS TEAM Featuring Jasmine Boatswain, Roni Bruno, Alice Dearing & Lexie Sandiford And Naomie Harris as Mami Wata 🎙️ Original Poetry & Directed by @catherinejoywhite 🎞️ Produced by @oriane_pick & @anais.ferrato 💫 Executive Produced by @afuahirsch , Amandla Crichlow, @catherinejoywhite 📸 Director of Photography @martynaknitterdp ✂️ Editor @sakky_cuts 🎵 Composer @hollieboohiya 🔊 Sound Designer & Mixer @pete.gummerson Senior Executive Producer @nasri.atallah Executive Producer @samim0u Associate Producer @dywayne_thomas Consulting Producers @owenpalmiotti & bryanguzmanciprian 1st AD @suekingofficial 2nd AD @4adrianasake PA @avapotterx Runner @_alex.bullock Mental Health & Wellbeing Coordinator @laurawhitecoaching Sound Recordist @jermainebenj Underwater & B-Roll Operator @richmaskey BTS & 2nd Unit @savannah_acquah Unit Stills @rob_youngson_photography Colourist Jake Davies @molinarepost Animator @nellymichenaud Motion Graphics @janicetsang.design Trailer Editor @rosielikescolour Filmed at @penshurstplace Jewellery by @umutoniofficial Supported by @dryrobe Produced by @borninme × @candid_broads_prod × @kusiniproductions

Long before Hashel Al Lamki became one of the UAE’s most celebrated contemporary artists, with work held by institutions including the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi and Barjeel Art Foundation, he was a child in Al Ain turning a spare room in his family home into a makeshift studio and asking his parents not for toys, but for art supplies. In the latest issue of TN, out today, we spend time with Al Lamki as he reflects on the journey from those early days to a practice now shaped by geology, migration, ancestral trade routes and the idea of ‘spice punk’ — a reimagining of the connections between the Gulf, East Africa and Asia beyond western narratives. The conversation arrives as @artdubai returns next week, where Al Lamki will unveil a new community-based work born from artisan collaboration and collective making. For an artist concerned with belonging, memory and layered histories, the fair remains more than a marketplace, it is part of the ecosystem that grew alongside his own artistic practice. Read my profile of Hashel Al Lamki in the May issue of TN Magazine available in today’s edition of The National and online at the link in bio. Photoshoot team Photographer: Aqib Anwar @gibsterg at @ricecreativestudio Photographer’s assistant: Emanuel Pascal ⁣Shot on location in Abu Dhabi TN team The National Editor-in-Chief: @aloraibi_mina Editor, TN Magazine: @nasri.atallah Deputy editor, TN Magazine: @sarah_maisey_ Art director: Gerald Du⁣ Creative director: Nick Donaldson⁣ Picture editors: Olive Obina, Scott Chasserot⁣ Sub-editors: Aarti Jhurani, Panna Munyal

It would be an understatement to say it’s been a weird couple of months. You cling on to what you can.

That idea of duality – of living between places, cultures and visual languages – runs through everything Lebanese designer Nada Debs does. Born into a family that moved to Japan in 1917, she was raised in Kobe, educated between Beirut and the US, then professionally shaped in London before returning to Lebanon. Debs has spent much of her life assembling a coherent identity from those apparently opposing parts.⁣ ⁣ As a furniture designer, Debs works with a respect for tradition, but never piety. She is interested in taking something established and twisting it into something playful, contemporary and new.⁣ ⁣ Now, more than 20 years after opening her first store, Debs is experiencing a second act in Dubai’s thriving design scene, and thinking less in terms of objects and more in terms of legacy. She wants to expand further into interiors and architecture.⁣ ⁣ “Just making objects is not enough. Let’s say I make this table, but it’s in a room that I don’t like,” the designer says with a tut. You get the sense that Debs is easily bored by sameness – and that she is always on the lookout for the next challenge.⁣ ⁣ Read my profile of Nada in this month’s edition of the magazine, available with today’s edition of The National and via the link in my stories.⁣ ⁣ Photographer: @antonierobertson_images ⁣ ⁣ The National Editor-in-Chief: @aloraibi_mina ⁣ Editor, TN Magazine: @nasri.atallah ⁣ Deputy editor, TN Magazine: @sarah_maisey_ ⁣ Art director: Gerald Du⁣ Creative director: Nick Donaldson⁣ Picture editors: Olive Obina, Scott Chasserot⁣ Sub-editors: Aarti Jhurani, Panna Munyal

As I wrote in my editor’s note this month, it feels like an odd time to be sharing anything that isn’t about the violence currently unfolding all across our region. But as a lifestyle magazine — especially one that is part of a news group that has been doing phenomenal work throughout this period — we have a specific mandate. And in the context of that I’m happy that this month we happened to be profiling the outgoing director of the Louvre Abu Dhabi, Manuel Rabaté, who leaves behind an incredible legacy. ***** Manuel Rabaté is not ready to say goodbye just yet. For close to a decade, he has overseen Louvre Abu Dhabi from its earliest days to its emergence as one of the region’s defining cultural institutions. Now he is preparing for a new chapter, carrying forward a philosophy shaped by his years in the UAE. As he steps down to become director and chief executive of the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art in New Delhi, Rabaté looks back on a period that has shaped both his professional life and the cultural landscape of Abu Dhabi. On a personal level, Abu Dhabi has become Rabaté’s home, the city where two of his daughters were born and a multitude of friendships formed. He learnt Arabic – an ongoing project – and embraced Emirati and Arab culture. ‘I touched the soul of this country,’ he says. ‘I came here as a professional working on a museum project. But when you live here, when your children grow up here, when you experience the diversity of people who call this place home, it changes you.’ Read @aloraibi_mina and @whmullally ’s profile of Rabaté in the March issue of TN Magazine. Photographer: @vbesaphoto13 Shot at @louvreabudhabi The National Editor-in-Chief: @aloraibi_mina Editor, TN Magazine: @nasri.atallah Deputy editor, TN Magazine: @sarah_maisey_ Art director: Gerald Du Creative director: Nick Donaldson Picture editors: Olive Obina, Scott Chasserot Sub-editors: Aarti Jhurani, Panna Munyal is

A note from TN Magazine editor, Nasri Atallah.

Nasri Atallah ne construit pas seulement des récits. Il redéfinit l’espace où ils deviennent possibles. Dans un paysage médiatique souvent dominé par la visibilité immédiate, son parcours propose une autre logique. Celle du déplacement silencieux. De l’auteur vers l’architecte. Du texte individuel vers la structure collective. Héritier d’une tradition intellectuelle forte, il aurait pu s’inscrire dans la continuité d’une plume familiale. Il a choisi une voie plus subtile : transformer l’héritage en infrastructure narrative. Écrire fut un point de départ, jamais une limite. Avec Our Man in Beirut, il explore la relation fragile entre mémoire personnelle et espace urbain, entre appartenance et distance. Mais très tôt, une autre intuition apparaît. Les récits ne vivent pas seulement par ceux qui les écrivent, mais par ceux qui créent les conditions de leur circulation. Cette compréhension devient le cœur de sa trajectoire. À travers son travail éditorial et médiatique, Nasri Atallah participe à redessiner la représentation du monde arabe dans un espace globalisé. Non comme une périphérie exotique traduite vers l’Occident, mais comme un centre narratif capable de produire ses propres imaginaires. Le rôle de l’éditeur cesse alors d’être technique. Il devient conceptuel. Choisir, cadrer, connecter, amplifier. Chaque décision éditoriale devient un geste culturel. Son passage vers la production audiovisuelle confirme cette logique transversale. Le récit quitte la page pour devenir image, format, circulation. Ce mouvement reflète une génération hybride, naviguant entre langues, villes et identités multiples, capable de penser la culture arabe à partir de sa complexité réelle. La singularité de Nasri Atallah réside dans cette posture d’architecte invisible. Loin de la performance médiatique, il agit dans la profondeur structurelle. Concevoir des espaces où les voix émergent, où les récits se transforment, où l’identité se raconte autrement. Dans un monde saturé de contenus, ceux qui façonnent les systèmes deviennent les véritables auteurs du paysage culturel. PO4OR.FR @nasri.atallah Bureau de Paris PO4OR – Portail de l’Orient

At 19, Yasmina El Abd now finds herself in rare territory. Her star turn in the boundary-pushing television series Midterm is her first lead role and it has accelerated her transition from scene-stealing supporting performer to a generational star willing to take on material many of her peers avoid. It’s been weeks since the show aired its final episode, and El Abd isn’t ready to move on. ‘I can’t really let go of Tia,’ she says. ‘This is the first time that’s ever happened to me. I’ve never had this experience with any other character. Now, I see a camera and I immediately have to become her – which surprises me, considering how difficult she was to embody at first.’ Read @whmullally ’s profile of El Abd in the February issue of TN Magazine, available at the link in bio and in today’s edition of The National. Talent: @yasminaelabd_ Photographer: @luciesassiat Photographer’s assistant: Anais Ramos Producer: @caroline.lbento Stylist: @marie__cat Hair and make-up: @audreypayetmakeuphair Shot at @studiozeroparis Special Thanks: @lynnboum Talent PR: Carrots Company | Marwa El Sawy @CarrotsCompanypro TN TEAM The National Editor-in-Chief: @aloraibi_mina Editor, TN Magazine: @nasri.atallah Deputy editor and fashion director, TN Magazine: @sarah_maisey_ Art director: Gerald Du Creative director: Nick Donaldson Picture editors: Olive Obina, Scott Chasserot Sub-editors: Aarti Jhurani, Panna Munyal

Forget 2016, take me back to December.

Home for the holidays.