Dear Laila (Stand4 Gallery)

PlayCo is proud to present Dear Laila, from Palestinian artist Basel Zaraa, at Stand4 Gallery (414 78th St, Brooklyn), Salam Arabic Church (414 80th St, Brooklyn), and Theaterlab (357 W 36th St. 4th floor). Basel Zaraa is a UK-based artist born in the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus, where his family lived after being exiled from Palestine in 1948. He is the second generation of his family to be born and grow up as a refugee outside Palestine. Zaraa created this installation in response to his young daughter Laila’s questions about his now-destroyed childhood home. Unable to take her there, he decided he would bring the place to her. In Dear Laila, Zaraa addresses his daughter, recalling sights and sounds of his childhood home via Walkman audio that audiences listen to over headphones—placing them in the perspective of a child having a parent’s precarious past gently explained to them. Attendees enter the 15-minute experience alone, sitting face-to-face with a detailed miniature of Zaraa’s former home as they encounter a story of displacement suffused with memories of joy, family, and the beauty of community. The recorded audio in Dear Laila will be available to audience members in English and Arabic. Two of the venues hosting our presentation of Dear Laila, Stand4 Gallery and Salam Arabic Church, are nestled within Bay Ridge, a South Brooklyn neighborhood alive with Palestinian culture, and we'll provide community maps at the installation that highlight nearby restaurants, grocers, bakeries and small businesses—all within walking distance—to enrich your experience and help support what makes Brooklyn's "Little Palestine" so remarkable.