The Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling is pleased to announce that Amina Jalabi is the recipient of the 2021 Award of Distinction in Oral History for her master’s thesis completed in the Art Education Department in 2020: “A Long Night: An Animated Documentary as a Tool to Represent Difficult Knowledge in Public Spaces: Transforming Compassion into Action,” which comprises a 12-minute animated film based on oral histories of three political prisoners of Syria’s Assad Regime, as well as an accompanying scholarly text.
Amina’s work is both poignant and visually stunning, as it asserts the importance of having frank conversations about what we can do when we are confronted by uncomfortable realities or difficult knowledge. Also, it emphasizes the courage of the speakers and the importance of taking action, where possible, against injustice.