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 will 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.

Kulturaustausch

I was commissioned by the German magazine Kulturaustausch to contribute to their January issue “Living On Less“.

“Generation Celibacy” is a deep dive into one of the latest trends among Gen Z: celibacy – or when recession creeps between the sheets. Why are Zoomers rejecting hookup culture? How do young women use abstinence as a political statement? I always love writing about sex, because it’s never just about sex.

I’m very grateful I got to publish this piece, building a bridge between generations that don’t always understand each other and attempting to contextualise what goes on on Tiktok to Kulturaustausch’s mature, highbrow readership.

VICE Belgium

I regularly write editorial and advertorial content for VICE Belgium, with subjects spanning from sex to the environment, mental health, drugs, music, or really weird habits I come across.

Read my VICE articles in NL, FR and EN.

Thrift Talks (Kringwinkel Antwerpen)

What if one day, we could just reuse everything? ’cause honestly, there is already so much stuff…

Sustainability has been central in my work and life for quite some time, so this project really felt like a full circle moment. I had the pleasure to host the Thrift Talks podcast series for Kringwinkel Antwerpen, aka the official provider of my coffee mug collection, my vase collection and my second hand interior addiction.

Listen to the three chapters on Vice.com.

Thrift Talks is a Vice Media production.

Een van de goeie

“No, no, I mean like… where are you really from?”


“Oh come on, you know I don’t mean it that way“


“I don’t see you as an immigrant”


“No but you – you’re one of the good ones”.

In Belgium, one in five people have foreign roots. In my new podcast series Een Van De Goeie (The Good Ones), I invited 8 other Belgians with an immigrant background to have open conversations about our experiences as first or second generation immigrants. We touch upon our identity struggles, the hypocrisy of the “diverse” society we live in, and how we found our way out of “just wanting to be like everybody else”.

Listen on your favourite podcast platform or watch the video version with NL, FR or EN subtitles on Youtube!

تشویش Tashweesh

تشویش Tashweesh festival took place in Tunis, Brussels and Vienna in the fall of 2022. I was invited to be the host and moderator of the festival in Beursschouwburg, Brussels, where I moderated daily panel talks about different aspects of feminism such as Trans Utopias, Power of the Domestic, Feminism and Revolution and Women of Colour in the Music Industry.

Couldn’t make it? You can listen to the talks here!

تشویش Tashweesh is a multidisciplinary cultural project spanning multiple cities, aiming to create new feminist alliances while providing a space for artistic practices and interdisciplinary research in the field of intersectional feminism in South-West Asia, North Africa and Europe. The project builds upon the experience of Tashweesh (2018), a multidisciplinary arts festival inviting artists, activists, thinkers on feminism which took place in Brussels and Cairo (with satellite programmes in Beirut and Tunis) and is co-funded by Creative Europe and carried out by Beursschouwburg (Belgium), Tanzquartier Wien (Austria), Goethe-Institut Brüssel (Belgium) and L’Art Rue (Tunisia). 

 

Famous Pets

During a depressive episode, I made a custom T-shirt inspired by vintage band shirts, using my favourite snaps of my dog Biceps, just as a pick-me-up to lol alone at home. The result was so cool that I did a reprint for the Biceps fans, and ended up making a few custom T-shirts for friends’ pets.

Famous Pets was born! You can now order a custom T-shirt based on one of the available templates, or order a full custom design.

All Famous Pets T-shirts are printed in Belgium and The Netherlands with ecofriendly ink on high quality, sustainable 100% cotton Stanley/Stella T-shirts.