From Mosul to Fairfield

by Samiramis Ziyeh

in a spiral we dance as the earth moves beneath our feet until we are home…

Presented by Fairfield City Museum & Gallery: a multi media installations based on traditional Assyrian dance concepts and practice from 2 – 30 October 2005.

 

Earth slips out of small hands; grandmother gathers the particles and hands them back to the child, to mix the earth with sacred water and make her ancestors, then firmly place them on the earth. This exhibition is an illustration of history with art and art presented in a historic setting, where the deep-dyed colours in the hand-woven Assyrian tribal garments are brought together with the latest technology to signify the strength and survival of a small nation that traces its roots to the ancient Mesopotamian civilization.

 

For the Assyrian Diaspora as they stand shoulder to shoulder during Khigga (traditional Assyrian circular dance), the space within the circle is a powerful space where longing for home/land is transformed into oneness with the earth and with one another. The use of Khigga as a physical, metaphoric and symbolic element in the process of this project provided a potential space for the artists and participants to exchange cultural expressions, allowing transformation of a traditional art form into conceptual and contemporary forms.

 The multi media wall and floor installations incorporate natural materials, audio and video components to take viewers on a journey where they can experience; individual and communal, past and present, betrayal and survival, loss and hope, physical and metaphoric.
 
From Mosul to Fairfield multi media installations explore the psychosocial state of Assyrians living in Sydney, Moscow, Los Angeles and north Iraq in 2005 and the symbolism of their movements that link them to the ancient Mesopotamians who have moved in the same spiral motion since 6000 BC.

 

Location: Fairfield City Museum & Gallery Corner The Horsley Drive & Oxford Street Smithfield NSW 2164   Hours: Tuesdays to Saturdays 10am-4pm. Sundays 1pm-4pm. For more information contact: Samiramis Ziyeh (02) 9130 3131 or 0410 386 485 Susan Hutchinson (02) 9609 3993

Article posted: 17/10/2005