Research Catalogue

This thesis is an autoethnographic investigation of artistic identity, healing, and liberation, informed by my journey as a Palestinian musician and artist navigating the connections of music, heritage, and political turmoil. Through collaborations with artists across cultures, improvisational methods, and exploring various global music traditions, I investigate the psychological and cultural dimensions of a contested identity that both carries and alters collective pain. The heart of this work lies in a continuous dialogue between the self, the collective, and sound—a triad that reveals layers of creativity and survival intertwined within my identity. This research comprises original compositions, interviews, and collaborations with Palestinian and international artists, resulting in a diverse soundscape where tradition and innovation coexist. Working with the qanun and other instruments, I seek to recall personal experiences and the shared memories and complex realities of people who have endured. The research culminates in performances that offer glimpses of hope, humanity, and connection, framed within the broader context of Palestinian artistry in a world that frequently dismisses or deliberately denies its existence. Ultimately, this thesis questions and redefines what it means to be a creator in a world marked by systematic erasure. It argues that art can be a powerful reclaiming of voice, a way of confronting the fragmentation imposed upon an identity. In exploring how music becomes a pathway to the inner self, a bridge to ancestral memory, and a gesture of solidarity, I hope to illuminate the essential human drive for expression and the enduring will to survive.

Happening, 2016. Participant's empirical research, including improvised full recorded interview with first generation Albanian immigrants to Greece, images, and thematic text. The research was conducted for the workshop, "Logics of Worlds", inspired by Alain Badiou's work and organised by architect Filippos Oraiopoulos, at Athens School of Fine Art (ASFA), Master of Visual Arts (Marios Spiliopoulos, Giorgios Xiropaides), December 2016. Adopting the political approach of Badiou's "L' Organisation Politique" to apply direct intervention for societal problems, including immigration and labour, I used play as a method to facilitate improvised discussions. People share and respond more freely when participating in structured, but playful interactions, such as those a game involves. Albanians speak three languages, Albanian, Italian and, only a few of them, Greek, so I wasn't able to translate parts of the conversation. Avlona is an English now obsolete name for Vlore, an Albanian seaport and former ancient Greek colony Aulon. Albanians came as non-EU refugees in Greece initially in the 1990s, after the fall of communism in their home country. Religion was banned in communist countries. The democratisation of Albania began shortly afterwards, in 1994, when Albanians started protesting for political pluralism in their country. At the beginning of the transition period after communism, Vlore became a port through which smuggling, mainly from Italy, was taking place. Notably, the men I spoke to didn't want to be visualised. Hence, the exposition aims to juxtapose the experimental and the conceptual in the fine arts; and to make the 'invisible' visible. Badiou is also known for his philosophy of metaphysics of the four "truth procedures": Politics, Science, Love and Art. The workshop was slightly interrupted by a performing arts student, who brought a live hen to slaughter in the studio. This can be taken as a metaphor for scapegoating (by symbolically re-assigning the gender of male) Albanian non-EU refugees. For this exposition, I include an essay by Pantelis Boukalas, in Kyriakos Katzourakis, O "Dromos Pros Ti Dysi" (The Way to the West), 2001, as well as Kyriakos Katzourakis' introduction in English. I don't have any personal or other familial connections with Albania - or North Macedonia or Kosovo, all the nationalities, including Albanian, used on fifteen fake non-EU passports used illegally in the UK since 2013 and 2014. I had never even visited those countries before the summer of 2024. The 2016 project was for the purpose of researching and documenting, in an artistic manner, the refugee and immigration crisis, as I experienced it in my native Greece, as well as to voice my opinions on this topic from my perspective as a native Greek. I spoke to non-EU economic refugees, who must not be confused with political asylum seekers: those are people who encounter persecution for political reasons from their countries of origin or citizenship, rather than illegal or legal economic immigrants, like the men I spoke to. Albania, North Macedonia and Kosovo, all the nationalities on the fake non-EU passports, including Albanian, used in the UK, successively since 2013 and 2014 are non-EU countries. Greece, my native (and my parents' and grandparents' native), has been in the EU since 1981. I have also been a UK national, by naturalisation, since 2011, for the purpose of voting and for political participation in the UK, where I have spent most of my adult life. Paradoxically - or not so paradoxically, since I had also been investigating this case - the political outcome, since 2020 and 2023, of this project was that three fictitious "daughters" of mine had been on the Met police's databases, as 17, 22 and 23 Italian/Albanian female sex offenders. Supposedly, I must had been given birth to a daughter in Albania in 2001, 2002 and 2007! (!!the "prostitutes"; that's believable!!) Or two "schizophrenic" sons, Panagiotis Nigiannis, both, Albanians!; born in 2003 and 2004! as well as a son from Kosovo!; born in 2009! That is simply Golden Dawn's, the BNP's (the XRW component in the UK), and others' cultural "imagination" with regards to Albanians and Albanian/Kosovo citizens. Factually speaking, in 2002, I was living in Athens, Greece, engaged to be married to my former husband, a Greek left-wing national, working at MOB (Mauve) Architects, as an architect designer, with an international cohort of colleagues. I got married in 2003. I lived in Athens until 2004, working also at R.C.Tech architects. In 2001 and the period after 2004, I lived in the UK, working as an architect and in higher education; I don't have children. I gained my first practical experience as an architect in the UK, working in private architectural practice from 1999 until 2002. The records with the fake IDs have finally been corrected in September 2024, including records of falsely alleged children of mine born 2002-2004, when I lived and worked in my native Greece. Specifically, in 2007, I was living in London since 2005, working as an EU/Greek university lecturer. When the G20 summit demonstrations took place in London, in 2009, with the known case of the death of Ian Tomlison by a police officer, I had lived in the UK since 2005, working as an EU/Greek lecturer at the University of East London, where I was also known as Betty Nigianni by my students and colleagues. I never participated in any public demonstrations in the UK, however I have attended demonstrations in my native Greece and, in 2019, in the Netherlands. It is not uncommon for politically-minded cultural producers and academic to participate in public demonstrations about causes they support. There are no children in my medical records, during the whole time I have lived in the UK, which is a total of seventeen years, plus, twelve of those being a British citizen. Greek children take their father's surname; Greeks don't have many children, they're suffering from a shrinking population, although they are in the EU since 1981, for economic reasons. My concerns about serious international organised criminal activity (not even honouring children's basic rights) were reported and confirmed by the Greek, Scandinavian and Albanian authorities. The British authorities have been lagging behind for a long time, intentionally, with their impossible unverified "stories", bashing the left and the liberals - or whatever is left of them - and whoever is decent - whatever has been left of that, too. The Greek police confirmed in 2024 that all claims about children of mine, also between 2002 and 2004, have been dismissed. The Greek Golden Dawn - with their "Big Idea" (Megali Idea) of conquering foreign countries, like North Macedonia, and their chronic attacks on immigrants and refugees in Greece - was convicted as a criminal organisation in October 2020. They invented the 'concept' of the 'Real Greek', dependent on any Greek's political orientation. Saying this, they also dig up their target's ancestry: in my case, covering three generations, there are seven (7) Greek ancestors on my father's side, plus one (1), who was an Italian ancestor, my father's grandfather, with the first name Gianni, surname unknown; and eight (8) Greek ancestors on my mother's side. Golden Dawn has been losing their sixty seven (67) appeals and early releases, because of my international work that has been very risky, due to the organised crime methods followed in this case. The conversation included in this exposition took place during the period Golden Dawn was prosecuted in the Greek High Courts of Justice (Areios Pagos), 2015-2020. Despite the fact they were frightened, many non-EU immigrants to Greece provided testimonies in the courts during that period. Manolis Glezos was the only Greek politician, who went to visit Magda Fyssa, Pavlos' mother, in the Greek courts. For Pavlos Fyssas, aka Killah P; assassinated at age 34. For Alain Badiou, a communist-Maoist political philosopher, and the OP. For the abducted Albanian and of Albanian ethnicity immigrants. For Michalis Katsouris; assassinated at age 29. For the "Other Greek Left". Thanks to the Albanian embassy in London, the General Directorate of the State's Police in Tirane, as well as the Durres police and the Durres prosecutor. Thanks to Edi Rama and his Socialist Party, a coalition of left-wing parties, government, for all the work that was done in the summer of 2024, during my first ever visit to Albania. Thanks to the Norwegian Labour Party of Jonas Ghar Store and left-wing coalition government. Thanks also to Skopje police and Prishtine police; as well as the newly elected Socialist Party in North Macedonia. Thanks to the Italian police at Bari. Last but not least: thanks to the Greek police chief, Marinos Stagakis, and the Greek police organised crime division, specifically Ioannis Papakostas, who spoke to me on the phone in the summer of 2022 and offered a starting point. Thanks to the Swedish London embassy and the Norwegian London embassy that confirmed the identified and reported NRM membership. Thanks to the US London embassy that came in late, in the summer of 2024; the work hasn't finished. Thanks to the Oslo Greek embassy 2024. Thanks to the French police 2024. Thanks to the exceptionally few Met police officers, who eventually figured it out, as well as those British, such as Keir Starmer since 2023, and others working behind the scenes for the last three years or so. It would not have been possible without them. It has been a long process with many obstacles along the way, seemingly insurmountable, but as proven not. For peace and for safeguarding democracy and everything that comes with it. Ongoing investigatory research, with legal and political activism, surrounded by artworks, 2016-2024. References: Fred C. Abrahams, "Modern Albania: From Dictatorship to Democracy in Europe", New York: New York University Press, 2015. Counterextremism Project, "Violent, Right-wing Extremism and Terrorism - Transnational Connectivity, Definitions, Incidents, Structures and Countermeasures", November 2020, available online. See all expositions under Art and Activism: "Debris", "The Loot" and "XRW (Implicature)".

50 A3 drawings black and coloured markers, including: 3 A3 collages on paper with newspaper cutouts and printed photos. 12 A3 drawings on paper with coloured markers + 1 A3 with black ballpoint pen and markers. 13 A3 drawings on paper with black marker, and red, pale blue, gold, pink and orange markers +1 A3 wo-sided. 17 A3 drawings on paper with coloured markers. 1 drawing on sketchbook cover with red nail polish. 1 text drawing on sketchbook cover inside. 1 drawing on sketchbook cover back inside with black, orange and gold markers. Some of the above is preparatory work for 4 large prints and 13 paintings. 22 A4 drawings with ballpoint pen. I did the art between 2023-2024. I adopted the visual vocabulary of the graphic novel, which I partly studied and read a lot about looking at different graphic artists' work, when I was attending classes at the University of Malmo, Sweden, in 2012. I mixed this with stylistic elements of the architectural sketch, using heavily the black marker and stick figures. Much of this work is, amongst other, about children. I wanted to emphasise that, by intentionally applying stylistic elements from children's drawings, too, in a naive architectural composition. Using this visual approach, I wanted to give a comically sharp twist to the otherwise dark subject matter. "Pop and Politics" (Pop Og Politikk) Where does the boundary run between art and popular culture? Pop art embraces the iconography of mass culture. Themes are taken from advertising comics, cinema and TV. The slick, impersonal style is a deliberate provocation. In Norway, pop art is part of a broader left-wing protest movement. Everything from capitalism and imperialism to environmental and gender politics is subjected to critical scrutiny. The exclusive, unique artwork is replaced by mass-produced prints and posters, well suited to spreading a political message." From the National Museum, Oslo, Norway. For Nikos, Filip and "Brandon". See exposition in connection with "The (Origins of) The Game", "Debris", and "The Loot".

This exposition presents the PhD Artistic Research project environment embodiment - towards poetic narratives by Fernanda Branco at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts (2020-2024). This artistic research explores experiential agency in encounters between body and environment. It draws from uncanny, embodied, and poetic perspectives and unfolds as a constellation of sympoietic practices. PhD Supervisors: Rebecca Hilton - Stockholm University of the Arts (2021-2024) Gunhild Mathea Olaussen - KHiO (2021-2022) Dora Garcia - KHiO (2023-2024) Fernanda Branco has designed this exposition in collaboration with web designer Ellen Palmeira. Illustrations by Aza Drawings by Francisco Blixt Cards and booklets designed by Amanda Costa

"Heaven on Earth: As Above, So Below" introduces the novel idea that features on the seafloor mirror the constellations in our night sky; challenging the long-held belief that ancient people simply imagined such unusual creatures amongst the stars. Visual evidence is produced by exploring the topography of Earth to make connections with constellation myths. The results are highlighted on a digital map and surprisingly follow the same meticulous order as defined by ancient narratives. This research should resonate with individuals in various fields, including: Art, History, Religious Studies, Astrology, Archaeology, Environmental Studies, Sociology, Linguistics, Folklore, Anthropology, Geography, Humanities, Cognitive Science, Psychology, Classical Literature, Astrophysics and Cultural Anthropology. WARNING: Contents may cause a permanent change to your worldview.

The artistic research pilot project Challenging the Theater of Memory: Yiddish Song beyond Kitsch and Stereotype attempts to explore and deconstruct the ways that Jewishness is portrayed and embodied in the performance of Yiddish song through ethnographic research and musical performance. Sociologist Michal Y. Bodemann’s concept of the “Theater of Memory” (1996) articulates how Jewish participation in public life is co-opted into the German national narrative to affirm a post-Nazi multiculturalism [^1]. This framework suggests that the diversity and complexity of Jewish life are often instrumentalized, serving merely as a backdrop in the German or Austrian national narratives. As a result of these dynamics, Yiddish culture and music are frequently presented through nostalgic tropes, stereotypical representations and in conjunction with the massive loss of the Shoah. Such representations often bolster hegemonic narratives instead of empowering Jewish minorities. Consequently, Yiddish singers become instrumental in either reinforcing or contesting the theater of memory through their artistic choices and performances. Our central question as artist-researchers was: How can we, artistically and through scholarly reflection, challenge and subvert the Theater of Memory as Yiddish performers on stage? In our project we use the frame of a lecture / concert to reflect on how we encounter the Theater of Memory in our artistic practice. Drawing from our experiences of past performances, theory from both performance and Jewish studies as well as ethnomusicology, we developed a performance which weaves together music, our own writings and visuals. We presented this lecture-concert in multiple settings and documented it through auto-ethnographic research methods and audio/visual recordings. Project supported by the: -Music and Minorities Research Center -Austrian Science Fund (FWF): Z 352-G26 -Artistic Research Pilot Grant (2022) university of music and performing arts vienna (mdw)