| AdminHistory | 'Stitching Bangladesh' was a live participatory performance by Farida Yesmin which took place on 27 November 2024.
According to the project's flyer, reference P/STB/1:
'"Stitching Bangladesh" is a performance by Farida Yesmin that looks at migration, trauma, healing, and gender. As part of her "Blissful Sorrow" series, the project begins with a workshop at House of Annetta, near Brick Lane. In the workshop, participants cut and rip a large Bangladeshi flag to represent feelings of pain, loss and powerlessness in the wake of the recent political struggles in the Summer of 2024. This act helps release emotions and forms support among the group. The performance then moves to Altab Ali Park, an important place for the Bangladeshi community, where everyone is invited to "re-stitch" the flag. This act represents healing personal and national wounds. The work focuses on rebuilding Bangladesh and highlights the often-forgotten role of women and LGBTQ people in shaping democracy and rebuilding connections in a society affected by political conflicts.'
The day covered:
Part 1: Intimate Workshop, 10am - 12pm at House of Annetta, 25 Princelet Street, Spitalfields.
Part 2: Public Participatory Performance, 2pm - 4pm at Altab Ali Park, Adler Street, Whitechapel.
The lead artist of this project is Farida Yesmin, executively produced by Giulia Casalini and funded by ARTCRY. The project was produced by Puer Deorum.
Press release, reference P/STB/1, states:
'Farida Yesmin, (fka Kajoli Ilojak) was born and grew up in Bangladesh. She studied Fine Arts at Dhaka University (Bangladesh, 1998) and at Visva-Bharati University (West Bengal, India, 2003), from which she holds a Masters degree. In her ever-evolving artistic practice, she experiments with different media (from photography and drawing to live performance), exploring issues of gender, body politics and cross-cultural identity through a feminist lens. Through her art, she engages with the cultural expectations and ideological restrictions that she confronts as a woman, as an artist and as a refugee. The artist negotiates language barriers whilst staging her otherness using her body, voice, painting and gestural mark-making as means of communication.' |