‘Two Diaries: Gluklya & Murad’ is the story of an unexpected encounter.

A migrant artist (Gluklya) meets a migrant writer (Murad) in a Dutch asylum centre, a former prison on the edge of Amsterdam.

Together, they come to understand what migration means, what language allows and how art in its different forms can serve as a cry of anger and a path to self-knowledge and peace.

‘Two Diaries: Gluklya & Murad’ is not only about two individuals lives but also about how art shapes and supports people and carries them through their most difficult times.

The book is an important contribution to migrant art and literature and a valuable and intimate picture of western Europe from the other side of the bureaucratic divide between citizens and subjects.

Gluklya (Natalia Pershina-Yakimanskaya) is a visual and performance artist living and working in Amsterdam.

Murad Zorava is a Kurdish activist and poet currently living in Europe.

The book covers the period in which Gluklya (Natalia Pershina-Yakimanskaya) and Murad Zorava met in Bijlmerbajes, when it was used both as an artists’ incubator (broedplaats) and an asylum centre.

Published on occasion of the exhibition ‘To those who have no time to play’, 14 Oct 2022 – 22 Jan 2023, Framer Framed, Amsterdam;  the largest solo exhibition by the Amsterdam-based artist Gluklya (Natalia Pershina-Yakimanskaya), curated by Charles Esche.

The publication finds place within the exhibition at Framer Framed through the installation ‘Two Diaries Shelter’ – an intimate space in which to read the diaries of Gluklya and Murad.

English, Kurdish and Turkish text.