Let’s first establish that the College of Design (CoD) at Iowa State University is a pretty big place, all things considered. Seven departments, multiple degree program, 1600+ undergraduate students, 150+ graduate students, loads of faculty and staff.

Among and amidst all these other folks, I kept crossing paths with artist and architecture student, Rami Mannan. I remember being slack-jawed first seeing Rami’s drawings in both the CoD and at ISU Design on Main. Who made these?

Several months later, I remember seeing a group of students, faculty, and staff sitting on a beautiful rug in the middle of the CoD atrium drinking tea together. (Let’s also establish that although there are lovely out-of-the-box events and installations on a regular basis at the CoD, tea on a rug is not a common occurrence, particularly a group of faculty, staff, and students.)

A few months after that, I received an email from my good friend Kristin Roach introducing me to an ISU student who creates community tea conversations (light bulb!) that led to a wonderful Zoom meeting with Rami. And then I convinced Rami to take one of my classes last semester. And now Rami is a colleague in the CoD.

For a few years, Rami has organized and hosted tea conversations in and around Ames and central Iowa, where he serves passers-by cups of Sudanese tea and gets to know them. There is no agenda, no script. These tea conservations, as Rami calls them, serve as “third places”** with the sole purpose of building and strengthening understanding and goodwill between members of local communities.

**If we think about our daily lives, we would consider home a first place and work a second place.

I hope you garner as much wisdom from Rami’s contribution to For the Common Good as I have. Enjoy.

Tea and Conversation, Ada Hayden Park, Ames, Iowa, 2020. Photo Courtesy Yusuf Hussein.

About Rami

I’m of Sudanese nationality, but I was born and raised in Qatar. I came to the United States to pursue architecture, and I graduated with my Bachelor of Architecture and Master of Science in Architecture from Iowa State University in 2019 and 2021, respectively. As of Fall 2021, I will be teaching in the Architecture Department at Iowa State University as an assistant teaching professor.

Rami Mannan. Photo courtesy of Ahmed Yasir.

Who are you in 10 words?

That is a tricky question as I’m still figuring that out for myself. I have come to understand that our collective identities are malleable and change over time and through our experiences. Through my conversations, I sometimes ask people, “How would you introduce yourself without your name and your profession?” which reminds me of this question. I am at a time where I would say I’m a Muslim who cares, enjoys conversation and believes in design, creativity, and the power of bringing people together.

Tea and Conversation, Holliwell Covered Bridge, Winterst, Iowa, 2020. Photo Courtesy Yusuf Hussein.

What are your creative rituals?

My creative rituals range depending on my mood or the task at hand. In general, my rituals are ways to keep myself present as I’m always in my head. A constant in my life is my prayers throughout the day. As a practicing Muslim, I pray five times a day. It’s a time for me to be more present and serves as a reminder of what it means to be a good Muslim, and I’m grateful for the reminder to strive to be a better person.

I start my day with my prayers and a cup of chai with mint that I pluck from my mint plants. During the evening, I make a cup of Moroccan mint tea to unwind. I try to write my thoughts down to reflect or engage in repetitive motion drawings, like drawing circles at different scales to keep myself present or process my thoughts. These repetitive drawings vary in time and size, and they take from hours to months to complete, so it usually gives me ample time to unwind, get in a flow state and process my thoughts.

Smoke Drawing, Ames, Iowa, 2020. Photo Courtesy Rami Mannan.

What community rituals do you value?

To me, togetherness, solidarity, and support form the basis of what community is. In America, togetherness is seen in holidays, protests, celebrations, barbershops, knitting circles, and experienced through food, to name a few examples. To elaborate, this idea of togetherness came about as I missed the social aspects of our society and more so how it was carried out in Sudan and within the context of collective cultures. Through my tea conversations with people in various locations in Iowa, I facilitated spaces of togetherness through discussions and sharing tea with passing by strangers. Through tea and conversations with strangers, I learned that it wasn’t about finding common ground, but rather it was about genuinely taking a step back and understanding where people are coming from, whether it is personal experiences or cultural upbringing, etc.

For me, taking a step back requires that one listens intently to what’s said and not for the sake of arguing the points being made, but rather to empathize and attempt to understand what people are saying and what they mean. People don’t walk around with an explanation of who they are or why they are the way they are. Still, I think sometimes taking the time, taking a step back and listening intently and having a conversation over tea, and sharing stories might bring us closer and understand one another regardless of our differences.

Art Vacancy Downtown Main Street Show, Ames, Iowa, 2020. Photo Courtesy Rami Mannan.

How do you merge your creative work with your community work?

That’s a good question. I would say in general, my work aims to have a therapeutic and reflective underlying effect on myself, and hopefully whoever encounters it.

My drawings serve as a space for relaxation and reflection that usually calms and transcends me into a flow state. When the drawings are complete, I don’t like to look at them as much as they have served me in the ways that I needed at the time, which generally means that I would start to actively look for places to showcase my work for others to see in hopes that they may experience similar effects.

I believe that everyone is creative, but it shows up in different ways for people. Instead, creativity to me is about how we chose to apply our experiences and knowledge in a unique way to address the challenges ahead that make us creative. I think everyone encounters challenges that they have to respond to creatively. I say this because I approach community work with the combination of my identities, experiences, educational background, and everything that makes me who I am.

For example, the tea project came about as a token of gratitude and in solidarity with the tea ladies in Sudan who created street kitchens and tea places to support protestors during the holy month of Ramadan that resulted in the ousting of Omar Bashir, who was a dictator that ruled Sudan for 30 years. Tea ladies and their spaces are targeted by authorities and harassed as they don’t always follow zoning and tax regulations, but they are generally embraced by society. I wanted to show the value of such spaces in creating a socially healthy community life by adapting such a spatial and cultural practice like the tea places in Khartoum for mobility and affordability to deploy in various locations in Iowa. My creative approach to community work was a way to create spaces for togetherness during the tense political climate and COVID, which made me realize how much people missed having conversations and getting to know people. Through my community work, I hoped to increase the chances of people meeting each other and having meaningful conversations as I believe that conversations could potentially lead to new relationships and friendships that benefit people and the community.

Tea and Conversation, College of Design , Ames, Iowa, 2020. Photo Courtesy Sushmitha Rayasam.

How has that changed recently?

I would say initially. I made a conscious distinction between my creative work and community work. I would consider the work that I do for myself, like repetitive and meditative drawings, as creative work. On the other hand, the community work would be a project like the tea project which would be more about the people that I meet instead of about myself – although the project has impacted me significantly. As I explore different working modalities within the community, I have begun to see my community work merge into my creative work as it requires one to approach the challenges that arise creatively.

What has been your hardest community lesson?

I am learning to listen and use questions to elicit responses to find commonalities while breaking the ice and flattening boundaries. Listening also serves as a skill when diffusing situations and addressing them head-on so I can maintain a safe space for either difficult conversations or the people I’m hosting in the tea space as they get to know one another.

Tea and Conversation, Lockwood Cafe, Ames, Iowa, 2020. Photo Courtesy R.D Robert.

What has been your most fulfilling community moment?

For myself, realizing that to strengthen and improve our relationships, we need to truly take the time to understand where people are coming from, which takes a lot of listening, trust, and vulnerability to create a safe space for the necessary difficult conversations.

For others, it was seeing people exchanging contacts or finding out that people were making plans to meet up and share meals after experiencing the tea project. I think the other thing is that when people say that they enjoyed and felt at peace after experiencing the tea and the conversations with strangers.

Tea and Conversation, Skate Park, Ames, Iowa, 2021. Photo Courtesy Jo Allen.

What tips might you have for artists who want to dive into community work?

Honestly, dive in and start small, but this depends on what you want to do.

For me, it always starts with a conversation about an idea that I had and that I needed help with and how it can potentially lead to a collaboration of some sort.

I would suggest you find out what kind of community work you’re interested in and see who you can talk to about it and set up a meeting, send an email or walk in and ask if you can meet with whomever you wanted to speak with. This could range from talking to owners in coffee shops, city officials, educators, people you meet in the grocery store by chance, or people who run or work in non-profits that you would want to work with or for. It could also be somebody who has been doing the work you want to do, and you can reach out or craft a video telling them about yourself and your idea to skip the introduction and see how you can collaborate or take you under their wing.

In addition, it helps to have something to show, whether it is a working idea or a drawing or something that can help them help you as it will give you something to talk about and enable them to guide you.

The last thing I would mention is that you can always test out your idea by starting small and testing it out in the community. In this regard, the most critical aspect is documentation because if it is not documented, it did not happen, and you do not have anything to show for it, plus it would make it more difficult to talk about it. I think documentation is essential because your work needs to be carefully curated, which helps you to be taken seriously. Documentation can be in the form of anything you are comfortable with, like writing, voice recording, videos, pictures, etc.

What tips might you have for communities to support artists?

Support comes in many forms, and it may differ between each artist as we all have different needs. Some of the conversations that I have had with other artists and creatives about support led me to believe that it can come in the shape of access to resources. For example: access to professional development, space, regular conversations with like-minded people that you might find in networking events, fellowships and residencies, continuous civic collaborations with schools, chambers of commerce, and other aspects of the city council to ensure that the community sees how artists can play a role in creatively improving the quality of life in communities – especially socially speaking as artists inject vibrancy into the mundane.

For example, in the case of Des Moines, I believe Mainframe Studios is an example of how communities can support artists in the ways I mentioned above. Mainframe Studios provides space for artists to create, collaborate and it hosts conversations and programs that expand relationships between artists and community members. I think having a building that serves as a haven for artists is necessary because it almost serves as a beacon for the community and visibility for artists. Buildings that stand for a long-term cause, like integrating artists within the community, show that we exist; we are here to take up space; we are here to stay.

The last thing I would say is, please pay your artists for their time and effort and if you can support the artist financially - please do.

What motto or creed do you live by?

I do not live by a motto per se, but as a practicing Muslim, I aim to constantly better myself, to treat people with kindness and try to understand where they are coming from, to work with what I have, and to share what I can and smile and laugh more often.

To learn more and keep up-to-date with his projects and practice, connect with Rami on Instagram, and send him an email at numbo007@hotmail.co.uk. You can download his Master of Science in Architecture thesis titled Harnessing Social Networks in Khartoum’s Informal Tea Places: The Case of Mayo Internally Displaced Persons Camp, and read an interview with Rami on the Urbanist Platform.

Like learning about the ins and outs of being a community artist or a community arts leader? Check out interviews with artists Akwi Nji, Catherine Reinhart, Jordan Brooks, Reinaldo Correa, Kristin M Roach, and Jill Wells, and interviews with community arts leaders Amber Danielson, Allison McGuire, Andy McGuire, and Jennifer Brockpahler.

Have a phenomenal community artist or an inspiring artist leader to suggest? Comment below or email jennifer@whatsgoodproject.com.

THOUGHTS

For the Common Good: A Community Artist Interview with Rami Mannan