Held by a thread
The inspiration for this piece was from a title of a series by an Iraqi born artist, Ayad Alkadhi. The series explores the fact that despite feeling assimilated to the Western culture, Alkadhi still feels that part of his identity is associated to his Arab cultural upbringing. He states:
“Immigrants are pulled threads, drawn from their motherland fabric and sewn onto the material life of our new homelands. We exist in a state of cultural purgatory, a state of not belonging. Or maybe we’re split, belonging a little to both places. While we are woven into the whole, we yet stand out. We are bold lines of yarn stitched into the fabric of our adopted culture, in hopes of maybe belonging again one day”
Ayad Alkadhi
This vivid description is very coherent in regards to expressing the state of belonging to two or more cultures. It isn’t about defining a ‘third space’ but looking deeper into what makes a person and acknowledging their vulnerability and fragile state. Whilst trying to integrate or ‘weave’ ourselves into a new culture, our ties to our homelands can not be cut as they remain part of us.
L A N A was so inspired by this quotation that she decided to use it as the basis for this piece. Alkadhi used mixed media, thread and fabric on canvas in his work. L A N A decided to take this further and create a torso entirely from yarn in order to fully capture the delicate and fragile state of people. In addition, lines from the poem 'My Identity' by Yisel Chong were sewn onto strips of fabric and in turn woven into the final piece.
“Immigrants are pulled threads, drawn from their motherland fabric and sewn onto the material life of our new homelands. We exist in a state of cultural purgatory, a state of not belonging. Or maybe we’re split, belonging a little to both places. While we are woven into the whole, we yet stand out. We are bold lines of yarn stitched into the fabric of our adopted culture, in hopes of maybe belonging again one day”
Ayad Alkadhi
This vivid description is very coherent in regards to expressing the state of belonging to two or more cultures. It isn’t about defining a ‘third space’ but looking deeper into what makes a person and acknowledging their vulnerability and fragile state. Whilst trying to integrate or ‘weave’ ourselves into a new culture, our ties to our homelands can not be cut as they remain part of us.
L A N A was so inspired by this quotation that she decided to use it as the basis for this piece. Alkadhi used mixed media, thread and fabric on canvas in his work. L A N A decided to take this further and create a torso entirely from yarn in order to fully capture the delicate and fragile state of people. In addition, lines from the poem 'My Identity' by Yisel Chong were sewn onto strips of fabric and in turn woven into the final piece.
'Held by a thread' by Ayad Alkadhi:
http://aalkadhi.com/content/held_by_a_thread/
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Held by a thread
(2010)
String, calico and thread
142 cm x 37 cm
(2010)
String, calico and thread
142 cm x 37 cm
