Tale of Place: Roccella Jonica

Curated by
Stella Colaleo, Michael Hersrud, Eman Makki, Simone Muscolino
for Sonic Jeel — VCUarts Qatar Institute for Creative Research

Publication Design
Michael Hersrud & Eman Makki

Exhibition Design
Stella Colaleo
with Sofia Isabel Flores & Claudio Armocida

Field Photography and Archive
Simone Muscolino, Stella Colaleo, Eman Makki

Music
Simone Muscolino, Gabriele Albanese
Production: Sonic Jeel

Artists: Agata Muscolino, Asma Derouiche, Ayatalla Mohamed, Chase Westfall, Eman Makki, Federica Visani, Gabriele Albanese, Hadeer Omar, Hagar Allam, Haya Daher, Hind Al Saad, Hira Nisar, Jesse Payne, Karmina Maged Fayek Asaad, Levi Hammett, Luke Kinmond, Maha Al-Khater, Maryam Al-Homaid, Maysaa Almumin, Meera Badran, Michael Perrone, Mohammad Sharaf, Moza AlSuwaidi, Nadine Al Sous Naima Almajdobah, Patty Paine, Polie Campiteli, Reema Abu Hassan, Reham Mohamed, Rola Khayyat, Ryan Browning, Sadia Mir, Samah Sulyman, Sara Al-Afifi, Sara Shaaban, Shankar Padmanabhan, Sherifa Eletrebi, Shima Aeinehdar, Simone Carena, Stella Colaleo, Tiaba Nazir, Yasamin Shaikhi, Yasmeen Suleiman, Zainab AlShibani

Tale of Place is a new series of projects that brings together fieldwork and creative translation, exploring personal geographies that connect our creative community in Qatar to locations of particular significance.

The series begins with Roccella Jonica, a small town in southern Italy. Our intention is to build geographic, cultural, and artistic connections between Roccella, the Mediterranean, and the creative community in Doha.

Over the years, we documented people, landscapes, rituals, and everyday life. Tale of Place seeks to transform this archive into a layered cultural dialogue. By sharing it with a group of artists, designers, and makers based in Qatar, the project invites reinterpretations of Roccella shaped not by direct experience but by distance, imagination, and memory.

The artists explored the archive and responded in any language that resonates with their practice. Their voices compose a multifaceted narration of a place told through multiple perspectives, revealing how geography, distance, and belonging interweave.

Publication can be viewed here.

Sonic Jeel Track

Photo credits