ANOTHER DREAM / حلم آخر

We all live in our own stories. As an artist from a multifaceted cultural background, having lived in many places across the globe, I am inspired by the complexities of the stories that make up our world. In many ways, I have seen how sharing people’s stories — particularly those from perspectives that are less often shared — can educate, heal, and unite us.

I believe that sharing these stories in innovative and engaging ways is all the more urgent today. Politically and in the media, we hear so much “us” versus “them,” but because of technology, our world actually now has the potential to be more “we” than ever.

Another Dream began eight years ago, while I was living and working in Egypt. Before, during, and after the 2011 Revolution, Egyptian journalist Nada ElKouny and I traveled in and around Cairo with tape recorders to collect more than 60 oral histories from women, ethnic minorities, and LGBTQ individuals. Although I had lived in the Middle East for many years, I had never experienced such optimism, openness, and willingness of people to share their stories. The hope for a new era of human rights that stood out among queer voices in particular left an impression on me. At the time, I didn’t realize how special this window in time was and could not have imagined what would follow.

While homosexuality is not illegal in Egypt, a backlash against the LGBTQ community followed in the wake of the Revolution, as the conservative Sisi government rose to power. A number of my close friends and colleagues were forced to leave Egypt because of the rising level of aggressive homophobia — including arrests on charges of “immorality” and police entrapment through dating apps.

LGBTQ people from Egypt and other countries in the Middle East and North Africa
region risk so much for the chance to live and love openly through the asylum process in countries around the world. Seeking a safe haven from the threats at home in these supposedly more progressive cultures, they often encounter further discrimination, dehumanization, and pain. Many see their identities questioned with intrusive and disrespectful requests to somehow “prove” their sexuality in order to achieve refugee status. Even if accepted as queer, they are frequently met with racism and Islamophobia, whether from border authorities, fellow asylum seekers, or their new communities. They even encounter physical abuse and violence. The fear, hurt, and confusion in their stories is only exacerbated by the media.

Living outside of Egypt, I was struck by the disconnect between the images of the migrant and refugee “crisis” in the American and European media, versus the lived experiences of these real people I have known for many years and care deeply about. As political and social life has become increasingly polarized worldwide, I’ve felt a growing responsibility to help amplify these crucial queer voices.

This motivation led me to make Another Dream. The project is part of an animated documentary transmedia series, Queer in a Time of Forced Migration, that brings the interviews I have recorded with LGBTQ asylum seekers over the last eight years to life through film and mixed reality storytelling. I chose animation to protect the identities behind the voices of the people who chose to share their stories, but also to emphasize the personal nature of their accounts and to encourage new ways of witnessing their journeys. I realized that new and immersive media tools emphasize that stories don’t just need to be heard — they need to be felt. I feel that mediums like VR have the power to make the political personal and the personal universal.

For above all else, Another Dream a multifaceted, experiential journey toward togetherness, in more ways than one — in a close relationship, in the search for a home, in reuniting with loved ones, and in people who are different from one another trying to figure it out, as we all are. Ultimately, I hope that ANOTHER DREAM gives audiences the experience to truly live within the stories we represent, as well as the opportunity to reflect on their own values and beliefs after experiencing another person’s intimate memories in VR.

Thank you for joining me and our team in Another Dream, and for bringing your own stories to it as well.

— Tamara Shogaolu