BE Festival, Graeme Braidwood photography 
BE Festival, Graeme Braidwood photography 
BE Festival, Graeme Braidwood Photography | The Un-Knitted Lives of Young Girls (2011) |
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Anne Bean & Poshya Kakl AE Harris Space part of Birmingham European Festival 8 July 2011 For several years, Anne has been working with the young Iraqi artist, Poshya Kakl, and they have made several public actions together both in Iraq and through Skype. Poshya has just completed a film Knitting Iron with women in her home town of Erbil imprisoned for refusing arranged marriages. These women mostly feel safer inside prison than out. In the film the women make pieces of art out of wool and the wire fencing. In The Un-Knitted Lives of Young Girls, Anne interacts live with the film of this action. Poshya writes : “We make pieces of Art and of cultural beauty out of the prison wire fencing with the un-knitted lives of young girls, victims of social and cultural rules. These very rules that can at any moment un-knit other lives outside the prison." The piece was shown outside Iraq for the first time this Summer at the BE Festival in Birmingham : “A thought-provoking film enhanced with a stunning live art exhibition. Very powerful, very moving.” “the video even on its own was stunning – at first I wondered what the purpose of the live re-enactment was however, eventually, the whole experience seemed to amplify the film and to make the process of the weaving more intimate. I will remember those women’s stories.” “Very moving and thought-provoking. It totally flipped on its head the whole meaning behind freedom. The production was clever, artistically beautiful and mesmerising.” “Recreated prison with walls of wool brought the whole film to life, threw me into the prison with them.” |