Songs of Anemone
-cries of the land and its people.Is a somatic, cultural, and political art project created and led by Farah Azrak joining as the artist-in-residence with Masahat Festival in Oslo, Norway.
The project stands on the foundation of grief as the fabric that holds us together. It is an invitation to explore tools to hold and express our individual and collective experiences of fear, loss, and rage in a safe and welcoming environment; to open dialogue; and to mobilize our bodies and voices towards artistic expressions of solidarity and defiance of injustices.
The project intersects protest, ritual, and performance to restore our humanity and challenge the status quo. It leans into the blurring of rigid disciplinary lines, entering a state of transformative permeability, inclusivity, and enduring storytelling.
How are we responding to ongoing violence?
To the erosion of empathy and hyper-desensitization?
What futures do we hold for all living forms?
- TWO WEEKS somatic residency program led by Farah Azrak in collaboration with Kunstforbundet Oslo. The residency welcomed twelve participants of various backgrounds to immerse in somatic practices and draw on a collective map of grief through voice, movement, and storytelling.
- ONE WEEK of papier maché workshops and open studio hours for mask and puppet making in collaboration with Christa Barlinn Korvald. Workshops were open for the public and welcomed the wider community to participate in the creative process of translating grief work into material form.
- TWO public laments took place during the Masahat Festival on 20 + 21 September, 2024. The first acted as a public intervention during a Vigil for Palestine in a major square in Oslo. The second, on the following day, occupied a public space in a popular area for the migrant community in Oslo.
Director, trainer - Farah Azrak
Producer, music - Vjolla Emmiri
Support team, participant - Clare Zhou
Papier Mache artist - Christa KorvaldDirector, trainer
Support team, participant - Clare Zhou
Breath work, participant - Thuray Alkury
Participants - Amika Elfendi, Rania Al Abdallah, Francois Monarcha, Aleksandra Drozd, Mia Helene, Engeskaug, Cecilio Orozco Martinez, Susan Guerra, Johanne Bjørnebye
