Pipe Dreams Zine - Shubbak Festival

Pipe Dreams is a zine publication documenting shisha culture in North West London created and co-produced by Zain Dada.  It tells the stories of shisha cafe owners & other Arab businesses- on their experiences of turning an industrialised area of London into a cultural hub for Arab diasporas across the UK. The zine also features an interview with Toronto-based curator, Mitra Fakhrashrafi who researched the impact of a by-law in Toronto which banned shisha in 2015.

This publication formed part of Shubbak Festival 2021 - Europe’s largest biennial festival of contemporary Arab culture. The production team consisted of British–Tunisian photographer Sana Badri, artist and filmmaker Nur Hannah Wan, writers Zain Dada and (and co-produced by) Nabil Al-Kinani, and graphic designer Walid Bouchouchi.

The zine is currently archived in the Institute of International Visual Arts‘ (Iniva) Artists & Activists Zine collection at the Stuart Hall Library

Extracts from the zine formed part of the Migration Museums April 2022 exhibition, Taking Care of Business: Migrant Entrepreneurs & The Making of Modern Britain. Shining a light on the central role that migrant entrepreneurs have played in shaping our lives – and Britain.

Copies of Pipe Dreams are now sold out but PDF copies can be bought on request.

Watch this news report by The National News featuring Nabil Al-Kinani explaining the idea behind Pipe Dreams here.