HOW TO GET CENSORED?

Don't be deceived by the witty humor and clever visuals in Laila Abd Elrazaq’s videos.
Her primary source of inspiration is the potential for technology to be wielded as a
tool of oppression.

In the video "How to Get Censored?," Laila offers a direct tutorial, sarcastically demonstrating how one can attract the government's attention and incite censorship on social media platforms. Simultaneously, she questions the extent to which modern technology may infringe upon the fundamental human right of free speech.

Amidst the rapid advancement of technology, the very notions of privacy, individualism and self-determination
often appear to be compromised, if not entirely extinguished. A perpetual debate rages, concerning the authenticity of
online information, an element now deeply embedded in people's daily routines. What sometimes goes unnoticed is the fact that these easily accessible tools can also be turned against us, closely monitoring our actions and potentially having dire
consequences.

Text by Yara Kassem Mahajena

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Laila Abd Elrazaq (b.1999) is a Visual Artist, completed her Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts with honors (2021), and her Master’s degree (MFA) at the University of Haifa (2023). She also recently obtained her Teaching Certificate in Fine Arts from Beit Berl College (2024).

Her body of work focuses on Video-Art, Performance-Art, Sound-Art, and sometimes Digital-Art. The works are often centered around themes such as self-research, gender identity, and confronting traditional ideologies within the Arab community through video essays. She has showcased her artistry in several exhibitions both nationally and internationally (Haifa, Jerusalem, Umm El-Fahem, Cyprus, New York, South Korea and London). She’s a recipient of multiple scholarships and awards like the AICF Scholarship, Scholarship for Excellence in final BA project named after the late Prof. Uri Katzenstien, and Young Artist Prize named after the late Walid Abu Shakra.

Laila fosters a collaborative spirit and got to work on a couple of projects with her video and sound works along with other artists, she plans on continuing to do more collaborations in the future.