Interview with Salam Kaoukji

Interview with Salam Kaoukji

Born in Egypt in 1947, Salam Kaoukji starts the interview with her earliest childhood memories in Cairo. she talks about her upbringing and early education in Cairo and the influence learning several languages had on her. In her early teen years, she moves to her homeland, Lebanon. There, she attends a boarding school in the 1960s. She speaks fondly of her parents, and especially her mother, who occupies a special space in her heart. Her mother’s artistic background and cheerful attitude colored Kaoukji’s life as a child as well as an adult.
After finishing her university education, Kaoukji talks about the beginning of her career in design. During the same period, she also spends some time speaking about how she met her husband and becoming a mother for the first time. Due to difficult circumstances in Lebanon, her and her family decide to move to Kuwait.
Kaoukji describes arriving to Kuwait in the 1970s. She continues her work in graphic design and pursues her passion for education by working with Efta’h Ya Simsim’s magazine. Moving into the 1980s, and early 1990s, Kaoukji narrates the events of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. She talks about hosting people from different nationalities in her house during the occupation to keep them safe. In the last part of the interview, she tells us how after the liberation she worked on retrieving historical artifacts that were stolen during the occupation.

02/05/2021

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Arabic

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Reem Al-Ali

Salam Kaoukji

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02:49:18