MEDI
Medi takes the shape of guided collaborative artistic and creative workshops (online and in-person pop-ups) that aim to create a language of possibility to come up with counter stories, remember collective histories, explore shared pathways and imagine speculative futures that reinforce the role of the Mediterranean as a place for life.
Co-created by two friends, Serene Debs and Iris Mir. We met in Hong Kong 10 years ago when we were both living on the island. Our shared Mediterranean heritage and passion towards cultural representation contributed to the nurturing of our friendship and creative connection throughout the years.
Medi is the culmination of our commitment to unfold a fresh narrative and manifest a healthy future about the Mediterranean region in the midst of migration crises, wars and armed conflicts that take over the news and mainstream narratives about a region that was once known and cherished for their kindness, solidarity and cultural diversity.
With this effort, we are joining our creative forces and experiences to hold regular online workshops and one-of-a-kind in person pop-ups around the world to bring together people from across continents to use their imagination, artistic instincts, languages and cultural identities to reflect on the diversity of the Mediterranean and the region’s collective histories.
Medi workshops and events are open to everyone. No previous artistic experience is required. Medi is an open space built upon respect and community where all participants can find a space to express their most intimate and hopeful visions for the future.
We’d love to see your creations!
You can share them with us and the Medi community by tagging us on instagram @inthemedi
ABOUT THE TUTORS:
Serene Debs is a Syrian artist and educator from Damascus, now based in Hong Kong. Given her Fine Arts degree, she works as an art instructor with practice in various materials. Debs also works as a news agency stringer, while leading her own collective to showcase Levantine culture through art in Hong Kong. With her experience in organizing art workshops and creative events that celebrate cultural representation, through the Medi project she aims to foster meaningful conversations and explore the richness of the Mediterranean region, through various mediums of expression. Medi is also a spin-off of Debs’ project Măkè dù sī, to bring Levantine culture closer to Hong Kong’s communities.
Iris Mir is a Spanish storyteller, photographer, educator and movement instructor from Costa Brava. Before establishing her current base in Tenerife, the Canary Islands, she worked in Beijing, Hong Kong, London and Barcelona. Identity, culture, traditions and the life by the sea of the communities in Asia, the Mediterranean and the Atlantic are the focus of her projects. Mir also organizes workshops and retreats on photography, journaling, creative writing and yoga to inspire to protect the ocean and the natural world. With her experience working cross-culturally with local communities, through the Medi project she aims to create a space where all the peoples from the Mediterranean have a space to use their own-voices and co-create alternative futures. Medi is also a spin-off of Mir’s project, Vivarium, aimed at reinforcing the ocean as a place for life through workshops, retreats and storytelling.
UPCOMING WORKSHOPS
Into eternity: Sensing the infinity of the Mediterranean through poetry
Saturday, 24th May 2025 (2h online live workshop)
Europe, Asia and the Middle East:
5PM Hong Kong / 11AM Paris / 12PM Beirut
Join us from across continents to embark on a journey into the infinity of our Mediterranean existence. This is a workshop where will create a space to carve permanence as a form of resistance into the world’s current wave of rampant change, hurry and impermanence. We’ll delve into the sensory experience of poetry as a medium to embrace slowness and to disrupt the dominant ways of perceiving our identities.
The session will mix moments of collective silence and creative action while we reflect about the concept of the ETERNAL الأبدية (al'abadia).
PAST WORKSHOPS
Seeds within us: Sketching poetic visions of the Mediterranean
Saturday 26th April 2025 - 2h online live workshop
This workshop will blur the lines between words and matter, taking us on a journey to the edges of possibility to create poetic visions for the Mediterranean region.
The session will start with a more self-reflective practice where we will use the word UNTIL حتى (HATA) as a trigger to question our response ability to mainstream narratives of the Mediterranean. The second part of the workshop will take participants on a sensory journey of abstract exploration where UNTIL حتى will become a gesture of self-expression through art.