Oasis Issue 18 - Out Now in Stores

by Munira Al-Ajlani

Creativity. The creatives. In this issue we explore the meaning of creativity and what qualities a creative should possess to earn that title.

Creativity & Iconophobia, starts us off by defining creativity: “It is one of those words which we all use, and we all mean positively, but we’re not very clear on defining it...Creativity is the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships or the like and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc…”. Sounds like a New Year’s resolution: stepping out of our safety zones, taking a risk, and being original. Combined, all these elements, create that creative streek and a fully-embodied creative spirit. It takes courage and intelligence to fully embody a creative spirit; whether it be in the form of Bernard Khoury who has redefined architecture in the region or in the products designed by Khalid Shafar who takes the traditional ‘Egaal (head dress) and other items and turns them into modern day pieces. Creativity also comes in the shape of the Royal Oprah Hourse in Oman which was commissioned by the goverment, the Qatar Museum Authority, which is bringing one of the world’s creatives, Takashi Murakami, to the Middle East for the first time, and other creatives and their initiatives such as the Salsali Museum and JAMM’s homecoming exhibition. The list goes on with creative Arab ventures from the Tomorrow Bokra song and initiative by entrepreneur Badr Jafar, to Hala Achkar’s Cafe la Joie, and Pink Camel’s traditional flavors in fancy macarons.

It’s like Steve Jobs said: “Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty...because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things. And the reason they were able to do that was that they’ve had more experiences or they have thought more about their experiences than other people. Unfortunately, that’s too rare a commodity.”