Sunday, 23 September 2018

HOPE



Music: Shadmehr Aghili, Tars

Thread Bearing Witness @WhitworthArtGallery
Travelling Heritage Bureau
Oct 2018
با گروه میراث سفر، نمایشگاه شاهدان نخ‌نما، گالری هنر ویت‌ورث، منچستر


related posts:
#hierarchy_of_worth

#hierarchy_of_worth



I had the pleasure of working alongside Alice Kettle, Jenna Ashton and a group of  female artists in Travelling Heritage Bureau [Roxana Allison, Rand Aljundi, Ekua Bayunu, Angelica Cabezas, Shaheda Choudhury, Lucia Cuevas, Aida Foroutan, Firoozeh Fozouni, Kani Kaml, Khalidak K, Anna Mikolajczyk, Zhila Mozoun, Roua Nazar, Mahboobeh Rajabi, Monika Rajani, Gloria Saya, Mania Soker and Mei Yuk Wong].

The main medium for this collective artwork was textile. Our cushions / sculptures were created and  put together somewhat quietly. The exhibition was up and running days before the official preview day on 20th Oct.  I first thought this lack of alignment with respect to the preview date and the start date of the exhibition was a miscalculation on the Gallery's behalf or maybe we got ready earlier than expected. I even wondered if this is how things are normally done by the Gallery.

It was nothing short of a wonderful dream for my HOPE cushion sculpture to be exhibited alongside Alice's work and the work produced by other members of the Travelling Heritage Bureau in the Thread Bearing Witness exhibition at Whitworth Art Gallery. 20th October 2018 was our Day.

I was going to ask my friend to record my first reaction to the promotional material (banner, poster, leaflets, ...) on site. There had to be some indication that the exhibition was happening, right? I had my mobile and my camera with its stand ready for action; but as it turned out there was no need.

Rehearsing the background for the piece to have something to say about HOPE, just in case: Each side of HOPE represents a phase: sorrow, barrier, growth and hope. In the hope phase, my hand represents a tree and HOPE is its fruit. I was also looking forward to hear other artists' story about their artwork and what inspired them.

I listened to the talk about the exhibitions. I expected to be acknowledged somehow and again I wanted it on camera. My finger was hovering above the red circle on the mobile screen. This moment never came or maybe came and went so quickly that I missed it! There was a sentence about refugees or migrants or something. I just took a few pictures with my phone and put the camera away. Maybe I am expecting too much when even Alice was not given a chance to speak about her work.

Anyhow, I discovered that there was a catalogue detailing the production of the pieces. How fantastic! Even-though there was no chance to talk about the piece, I hope that at least we have a short paragraph about our work included in the catalogue. I'll find out exactly what is included when I get a copy of the catalogue.

P.S. Unfortunately I forgot to sign the thank you card for people who helped us. So I take this opportunity to thank Jennifer Wilks and Alison Stewart, the fabrication assistants for their help.

To conclude I loved the fact that my work was exhibited at Whitworth Art Gallery and nothing could take this sense of pride and excitement away. After many years of being condemned to stay under the 'invisibility cloak', witnessing people looking at my artwork was magical. I am so proud of everyone in the Travelling Heritage Bureau. It was a pity that this wonderful event was not planned in such a way to include everyone. Maybe the status matters but despite all, Still I Rise :)

 #price_tag

related posts:
HOPE

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Wednesday, 19 September 2018

افتتاح نمایشگاه در منچستر




'Thread Bearing Witness' exhibition at Whitworth Art Gallery 
The exhibition preview day is tomorrow (Thursday 20th September 6-8pm) and it would last till the next Spring.
It is a free event.


پرواز با بال‌های پارچه‌ای
 فردا (پنج‌شنبه 20 سپتامبر) روز بازگشایی رسمی این نمایشگاه است. نمایشگاه تا بهار سال آینده به روی بازدیدکنندگان باز خواهد بود. خوشحال می‌شوم شما را نیز ساعت 6 در مراسم رونمایی در گالری ببینم. شرکت در نمایشگاه برای عموم رایگان می‌باشد 

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Flying with textile wings




When Jenna and Alice first talked about the upcoming 'Thread Bearing Witness' exhibition at Whitworth Art Gallery and invited us to design a piece to be exhibited with Alice's work, it sounded like a dream. All the work is done and the exhibition preview day is tomorrow (Thursday 20th September 6-8pm). The funny thing is that it is still a dream.

P.S. If it is, please don't wake me up till after the preview day.

A special thank you to everyone who made this possible specially Jenna and Alice and all the wonderful staff and volunteers at Whitworth Art Gallery.

Hope to see some of you tomorrow at the preview. :)

پرواز با بال‌های پارچه‌ای
 چند ماه پیش وقتی جنا و آلیس درباره امکان به نمایش گذاشتن کارهای ما در کنار آثار آلیس در نمایشگاه شاهد نخ‌نما در گالری هنر ویت‌ورث منچستر صحبت کردند همه چیز مثل یک خواب شیرین بود. ماه‌ها گذشته و کار انجام شده. فردا (پنج‌شنبه 20 سپتامبر) روز بازگشایی رسمی این نمایشگاه است. خوشحال می‌شوم شما را نیز ساعت 6 در مراسم رونمایی در گالری ببینم 

Tuesday, 4 September 2018

Another performance of Sombre Dreams

Withworth Art Gallery: Ten Thousand Waves Closing Celebration 

Saturday 25 August, 11am – 3pm. 
Free, no booking necessary

Performance of Sombre Dreams, Withworth Art Gallery

Our group (DIPACT) will be performing, as part of the Ten Thousand waves Closing Celebration, at Withworth Art Gallery. The event will start at 11 on Saturday 25th Aug. We are one of the groups sharing our response to Isaac Julien's Ten Thousands Waves on that day. Our group should be going on stage at 1:30pm.
Hope to see some of you there.


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