(Update: due to COVID-19 containment measures , ‘Textile as Resistance’ at Kunsthal Extra City Antwerp has been postponed until further notice.)
The good people of MoMu - Fashion Museum Antwerp and Texture Kortrijk - the museum of flax and the river Lys - invite you to come take in ‘Textile as Resistance’, a new exhibition spearheaded by journalist Samira Bendadi and photographer Mashid Mohadjerin. The expo meshes Bendadi’s storytelling with Mohadjerin’s captivating photography and runs until February 16 2020 at Texture Kortrijk. In the spring, the exhibition is set to travel on to Kunsthal Extra City in Antwerp (March 21 until April 19 2020). Bookmarked!
Honing in on the centuries-old transformative power of textile, Bendadi and Mohadjerin provide a platform to the often silent (or silenced) resistance of people around the globe fighting for the survival of their families, communities and the social fibre of their daily life. Through clothing and fabrics, visitors can connect to stories that go beyond religious, national and cultural borders. The artist pair takes migration as a diving board, a topic most personally important to both, and starts the exhibition’s journey in Antwerp, quickly venturing to Paris and Beirut but also war-ravaged regions such as Aleppo and Kabul. The duo portrays never-seen-before stories of Belgian immigrants, they feature clothing stores and textile ateliers helmed by refugee women in Lebanon and Palestine and show us the passing on of embroidery traditions. Topics such as ‘refuge, resistance, hope, happiness, tradition, beauty, spirituality and decolonization’ all come together in the warp and weft of one eye-opening exhibition.
For the occasion, an accompanying catalogue book is being released (both Dutch- and English-written) and published by Hannibal, in collaboration with MoMu director Kaat Debo and curator Elisa De Wyngaert. The release weaves together stories of pride, spiritualism, saying goodbye and embroidering to not forget.
Malak Bakoor, has her own embroidery workgroup involving Syrian women in Shatila Refugee Camp. Beirut, Lebanon, 2019, (c) Photo: Mashid Mohadjerin
Building near Shatila Refugee Camp. Beirut, Lebanon, 2019, (c) Photo: Mashid Mohadjerin
(c) Image: Mashid Mohadjerin, graphic design: Jelle Jespers
MoMu and Texture Kortrijk present 'Textile as Resistance'
15/11/2019 - 16/02/2020
Texture
Noordstraat 28
8500 Kortrijk
Belgium
Open Tuesday to Sunday, 10 AM - 5 PM (closed on Monday)
Tickets (at reception): €6 / €4 reduced rate
Guided tours: €66, more info and reservations: T +32 56 27 74 40
Header image: (c) Mashid Mohadjerin
