An interview with artist Hayv Kahraman

Iraqi-born artist Hayv Kahraman has blown away the world with her refined and virtuosic ability to tell a story. But what about her own story?

In a previous interview, you’ve said ‘I will always be a tourist wherever I go.’ That was six years ago – how has that changed now? Do you believe that the older you get, the stronger your affinity for Iraq grows?

That hasn’t changed much and I think that feeling applies to Iraq as well. My relationship with Iraq, “my homeland” is problematic since I left at a young age and so I wasn’t able to establish a strong link to the culture and life at large. My parents on the other hand, have decades of memories to replay and that is something I have always wanted to have. Perhaps the yearning to create a stronger affinity with Iraq is more relevant in my life right now since I am a new mother. My daughter was born in the United States and having her learn her heritage is important to me. 

What have been the reactions from Middle-Eastern women to your work? And what have been the reactions from Iraqi people to your work?

It was interesting seeing the different impressions people had during the opening of How Iraqi are you? Many Iraqi’s braved the NY cold to come see the show. They expressed an intimate relationship with the works as we shared the same memories – a collective memory, of war in a distant country that was once our home. They wanted me to add more paintings to the collection as they told me stories and idioms they remembered using back in the day. And there was a glimpse of pride in their voices as they saw their colloquial Arabic written on a canvas in a New York gallery. In terms of feedback from Middle Eastern women, so far they have been positive and many identify with the works.

Being of an Iraqi Kurdish background, you and/or your family must have experienced persecution from the Ba’ath party. In what way has that influenced your work?

Yes that’s correct. My parents were persecuted in many ways. My mom was interrogated once and my father was pressured to teach a certain way (he was a university professor). I only experienced this once in school during our “Wattania” class. This is a class introduced into Iraqi schools in 1978 by Saddam and the Ba’ath party. It taught the politics of Iraq and the region from the perspective of the Ba’ath party. One day the teacher handed out a test. One of the questions read: “circle the correct word; is Iraq a democracy or a dictatorship?” I was 9 or 10 years old then and didn’t know the difference between the words. Ironically I circled dictatorship and was called in after class, given an extensive lecture by the teacher on how I even dared to say that and of course hit with a ruler. I now understand that it wasn’t the teacher’s fault as she was pressured to do/act this way by the government. This memory has manifested into a work part of the series “How Iraqi are you”. (See attached image “Wattania Class”)

I myself have had a similar story to yours. Having fled Baghdad (as a result of Ba’ath persecution) with my family in 1997, I moved to London. Now I’m beginning to learn how to read and write Arabic. For your most recent exhibition, How Iraqi are you? You also had to relearn how to write Arabic yourself. Could you tell us about that?

The texts in the works of How Iraqi are you? are personal memories from growing up in Baghdad as well as tongue twisters, aphorisms, and stories of existing as a refugee in Sweden all in which are written in colloquial Arabic (Iraqi).  The works are based on the 13th century Baghdadi illuminated manuscripts or more specifically “Maqamat al Hariri” that narrated the everyday life of an Iraqi at the time. I wanted to use that idea and think of it from the perspective of todays Iraqi immigrant. The process of writing the text in the works became somewhat performative for me and very much part of the work itself since I was actively relearning how to write. The calligraphy in the Maqamat is that of the “Naskh” which is a slightly looser type often written while being narrated and in the Koran. As I drew inspiration from that, I still didn’t want to copy blindly. I took my time to examine the original text in the manuscripts, each letter, the thickness of the stroke, the shape and the angle. I was re-learning how to write my language as well as read and speak my mother tongue. The tongue that I had/have grown to forget and not use anymore. The tongue I regret not have continued to learn. I look at these Arabic letters with estranged eyes now. I was exported and so was my language. But it’s also my fault for not having kept it alive. I was too busy learning the western language and training my eyes to adapt to English letters. I can now see these Arabic letters from the perspective of an American or a Swede and that terrifies me. It makes me want to reiterate them, paint them, write them, re-learn them and re-memorize them: recover them. I am on the search for recapturing my amputated mother tongue. At age 34 I am searching for my 9 year old self that spoke and wrote fluent Arabic.

I’ve shown How Iraqi Are You? to some of my family members who are also living in London. They found it really interesting how you managed to capture some very specific Baghdadi colloquialisms and sayings. Do you remember these sayings from your childhood or did you have to research them?

I’m glad you showed them to your family! I’m always in search for aphorisms and collective memories. This series has become somewhat of an archiving process for me so if you think of anything do share!

Back to your question, yes they are personal. I remember singing them, saying them and living them. Words like “Ummodach” (that translates to a swear word and is accompanied by a hand gesture) that is now appropriated in Swedish schools among kids of diverse ethnicities; this of course due to the large influx of Iraqi refugees in Sweden. Or political sayings that we used to sing as kids in school.

Are there any future projects from you that we can look forward to?

At this point I am still working on this series, collecting aphorisms and stories. I will be showing more works in Dubai in the fall and look forward to engaging with that side of the world.

All images obtained at the courtesy of the artist

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‘Voguing’ through NYC subways in this gritty new film by Clayton Vomero

NYC based filmmaker Clayton Vomero introduces his raw short GANG, following the day in the life of three friends as they rap, sing and vogue their way around Staten Island. 

The 17-minute film features Mela Murder and Denasia Moore, two members of the Major Lazer dance team. Ghostface Killah’s son, Infinite Coles, plays the third friend. Together, the three friends in their gang shed light on youth culture and what it means to grow up in electric and gritty New York City, with particular focus on ‘voguing’ culture. 

Voguing is a stylized form of house dance characterized by model like poses of linear arm and leg movements arising from Harlem ballrooms by African and Latino Americans. It is Mela Murders character that boldly takes the lead in this contemporary articulation of voguing and its significance on expression. 

According to Clayton, the inclusion of dance in his film was a medium used by the characters to express their confidence despite the many social restraints imposed on them. In an interview Clayton remarks; ‘It’s a story about people; it’s not about being gay, or black, or poor or dancing. It’s just about being a person and looking for other people like you. The beautiful thing about Mel, Inf, and D’s friendship is that they help each other to be their most confident selves. They don’t look to each other for approval; they encourage each other to be who they are. I think voguing is just an expression of confidence for them.’

 The film itself is heavily urbanised with contemporary dance and Lo-fi music playing an intrinsic part in forming the narrative as well as the very real-to-life dialogue that takes you right back to being a teenager. The film deals with themes of identity and social circumstances with the idea that you can make the most of whatever you have. The friends in the film are restrained economically, but they do not allow this to affect their experiences as a young person living in New York, and together they grow their own confidence performing carefree through the city with no feelings of burdens or barriers. Through the course of living out their life they deal with personal issues about love and friendship, encouraging each other to be strong individuals. 

If any young person were to watch anything of significance in their life, GANG is sure to be right up there as a film for this generation and undoubtedly the film of the year for any young New Yorker and those wishing to recount their childhood. It is a film that is about growing, giving so much of itself as a film to the audience in terms of its moral and its authenticity, which makes it all the more exciting to know of Clayton’s plan to transform this short into a feature length film. Watch out for Clayton’s next film and if you haven’t already checked GANG you can preview it through this link.

Tribeca Film Festival 2015

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Daniel Arsham ‘Future Relic 03’ Photos by James Law

The tenth annual Tribeca Film festival presented by AT&T took off last Thursday in the Tribeca district of Manhattan in New York City. 

The film festival was founded in 2002 by Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro and Graign Hatkoff with the aim of celebrating New York City as a major filmmaking center. 

Tribeca runs from the 16th April until the 25th April with an overwhelming compellation of events, talks, screenings, exhibitions and discussions guaranteed to satisfy all film fanatics. 

This year’s film line-up represents a significant landmark in Tribeca’s fourteen year history with 40 of the 119 feature-length films directed by women and even more significant for Tribeca, 11 of those 40 women are from New York City. This is an increasingly relevant subject, which references the surge in female filmmaking over the recent years. (see also, Rooms 17 Presents: A female Perspective in Film)

Staying with the feminism theme, documentary ‘Code: Debugging the Gender Gap’ will feature in the film festival. Code is a documentary exposing the shortage of American female and minority software engineers and explores the reasons for this gender gap. Code raises the question: What would society gain from having more women and minorities code?

One of the biggest names to feature in this year’s line-up is a talk by Courtney Love who discusses the impact of watching the documentary movie about her late husband Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain, ‘Montage of Heck’. Love discusses the personal effects this film has had on her views about her late husband’s suicide, which is compiled of journals, photography, songs, recordings and artwork from the 90’s rock icon.

Another highlight comes from the Star Wars mastermind himself, George Lucas who candidly talks about the newly released trailer for the latest edition in the Star Wars franchise; ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens.’ The creator discusses informally as part of this year’s Tribeca Talks Series.

Deviating from the Hollywood blockbusters, Tribeca exposes audiences to the complex world of abstract filmmakers like Daniel Arsham, who has built his career combining art, performance, architecture and film in his short ‘Future Relic 03.’ ‘Future Relic’ is a series of shorts with the concept depicting a future civilization at various points before and after a major ecological change on Earth. In his latest project ‘Future Relic 04,’ Arsham shoots his film inside a space shuttle set. Arsham’s film will premiere as part of the shorts program entitled ‘Gallery Opening’ at the Tribeca Film festival. 

There will also be the Artists Award Gallery Exhibition, which showcases the works of world-renowned artists who create and donate works to be presented to the Tribeca Film festival’s award winners.

Tribeca promises to be the platform of future film making and viewing, exploring, educating and exposing audiences to the next big thing to come out in cinema in the all inspiring backdrop of NYC. More importantly, you don’t need a special VIP invitation, you just need to be available and in New York to purchase your reasonable festival pass and begin exploring all that the festival has to offer. 

Tribeca Film Festival 2015 | Image taken from the Tribeca Film Festival website