‘Textile as Resistance’ travels on to Kunsthal Extra City in Antwerp
The power of no-slogan fabrics
February 5, 2020
After a successful edition in Kortrijk, ‘Textile as Resistance’ will travel on to Kunsthal Extra City in Antwerp from March 21 until April 19 2020. This storytelling and photography exhibition was created by MoMu in collaboration with journalist Samira Bendadi and photographer Mashid Mohadjerin.
Refuge, resistance, hope, happiness, tradition, beauty, spirituality and decolonization. Textiles are - and have long been - a powerful medium for the expression of identity, especially in times of war and crisis. What messages and stories can fabrics share? What does an outfit or a piece of clothing say about the wearer? Can textiles weave the past together with the present? Can they be an act of resistance? Important questions worth exploring in order to stitch together a fuller picture of our modern societies and inspirational people that are beating the odds around the globe.
Exclusively for ‘Textile as Resistance’, Mashid Mohadjerin created a series of impactful photos and Samira Bendadi wrote an equally exclusive collection of moving stories, crafting an awe-inspiring tapestry of visual and written storylines for visitors to unravel. This creative pair invites you to discover clothing and textiles as a diving board into stories that transcend religious, cultural and national borders. For both Bendadi and Mohadjerin, migration has always been an essential part of their history. Their search started in Antwerp and their stories quickly found new destinations in other parts of the world, to Paris and Beirut, but also Aleppo and Kabul. They uncovered many moving stories on many aspects of the lives of Belgian immigrants, leading us into clothing stores and textile ateliers, started and run by refugee women in Lebanon and Palestine and how embroidery traditions are passed down from generation to generation.
“Antwerp and Flanders are connected to the rest of the world through asylum and migration. Antwerp is home to more than 170 nationalities. 183 different languages are spoken here. The exhibition is part of our mission to make MoMu meaningful for everyone and to enable social, aesthetic and personal change. We aim to continue to inspire with plenty of initiatives along the lines of this exhibition, even after the official re-opening of the museum”, says Kaat Debo, MoMu director.
African Fashion Weekend at the Meise Botanic Garden. Brussels, Belgium, 2019, (c) Photo: Mashid Mohadjerin
Zolaykha Sherzad, Afghan-born designer wearing one of her native inspired coats. She deconstructs existing pieces and reunites the textiles into in new pieces that reflect on new perspectives and hopes for a better future. Paris, France, 2019, (c) Photo: Mashid Mohadjerin
Malak Bakoor, has her own embroidery workgroup involving Syrian women in Shatila Refugee Camp. Beirut, Lebanon, 2019, (c) Photo: Mashid Mohadjerin
Looking into Zena Sabbag's livingroom-turned into a sewing, stamping and embroidery workshop. Beirut, Lebanon, 2019, (c) Photo: Mashid Mohadjerin
Shatila Refugee Camp, Lebanon, 2019, (c) Photo: Mashid Mohadjerin
Saeed studied for seven years with a Soefi master to be able to perform the spiritual dance. He has just finished giving a performance of this dance at a theater hall in Amsterdam, Netherlands, 2019, (c) Photo: Mashid MohadjerinABOUT THE CO-CREATORS OF 'TEXTILE AS RESISTANCE'
Samira Bendadi is a journalist at MO* Magazine. She is specialised in North Africa and the Middle East and writes about themes linked to migration, asylum and diversity. She started her career at Radio Vlaanderen Internationaal and has made reportages and documentaries for VRT, Radio1 and TV-Brussel. She has also written for Knack and De Standaard. Her book 'Dolle Amina’s. Feminisme in de Arabische wereld', about feminism in the Arab world, was published in 2008.
Mashid Mohadjerin is a photographer whose work has been published in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, De Standaard, and Le Monde. Mohadjerin's work explores the boundaries between artistic and documentary photography. She studies identity and migration, and has travelled the world in search of human-interest stories. In 'Lipstick and Gas Masks: Women and Resistance in Egypt and Tuneisa' (2017), she examines the world of the women who took on a pioneering role in the protests during the Arab Spring. Mohadjerin was a winner of the 2009 World Press Photo competition with her photograph of boat refugees, which moved the entire world. She is a lecturer and doctoral candidate at KASKA.
PRACTICAL
‘Textile as Resistance’
21/03/2020 - 19/04/2020
Kunsthal Extra City, Eikelstraat 29, 2600 Antwerpen (Berchem)
Opening hours: Thursday to Saturday: 1pm-6pm, Sunday: 11am-6pm
Prices: €5 / €3 / €1 / €0
KUNSTHAL EXTRA CITY ANTWERP
T +32 3 677 16 55 / [email protected] / www.extracitykunsthal.be
MOMU - FASHION MUSEUM ANTWERP
T +32 3 470 27 70 / [email protected] / www.momu.be
MoMu is closed to the public until March 2021 for intensive renovation and expansion work. While the building is under construction, you can enjoy an extra muros programme with exhibitions and activities on location.
CATALOGUE
Along with the exhibition the book 'Textile as Resistance' is published in collaboration with Hannibal Publishing (€29,95, bilingual edition English-Dutch, 144 pages, softcover, ISBN 978 94 6388 723 6)
David Flamee