24-01-2023 | 'Rooted in Place' at Acrylicize

Today I attended 'Rooted in Place' a talk and discussion at Acrylisize in Hackney, to complement its current exhibition of work entitled 'Roots' by Henri Affandi. The panel was hosted by Dalia Al-Dujaili - a writer interested in migrant narratives - and included broadcaster and writer, Zakia Sewell and research based artist, Marianne Keating. Henri Affandi's network of fabric strewn branches was accompanied by sound work incorporating the audio of storytelling of interviewees speaking on the topic of migrant experience in the UK. I enjoyed the work, particularly the elements of textiles which immediately spoke to the visual language of London's multiplicity of cultures. The talk was most enlightening, and helped inform research I have been undertaking, namely Simon Schama's 'Landscape and Memory' and Marina Warner's 'Fantastic Metamorphoses, Other Worlds'. Marianne Keating’s points on the Irish diaspora in Jamaica was pertinent to Marina Warner's ideas of when ‘reflections of one culture are refracted through another’. These thoughts and ideas guide my understanding of my making practice in terms of using it towards understanding my own 'confused genealogy'.

1. Al-Dukaili, Dalia, Zakia Sewell, and Marianne Keating, ‘Rooted in Place’ (Acrylicize, Hackney, London, 2023)

2. Henri Affandi: Roots, Dec-Jan 2022/23, Acrylicize, Hackney, London

3. Schama, Simon, Landscape and Memory, 1st ed. (New York: Harper Perennial, 2004)

4. Warner, Marina, Fantastic Metamorphoses, Other Worlds : Ways of Telling the Self, The Clarendon Lectures in English, 1st ed. (5. Feb 2004) (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), Vol. 2001 <https://0-web-p-ebscohost-com.emu.londonmet.ac.uk/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzc1NTgzNF9fQU41?sid=ee242f91-c444-4374-844a-8daf948b16e6@redis&vid=0&format=EB&lpid=lp_1&rid=0> [accessed 11 October 2022]

5. Alrai, Emii, ‘Emii Alrai (@emiialrai) • Instagram Photos and Videos’, Instagram <https://www.instagram.com/emiialrai/> [accessed 23 April 2023]