Pay what you can

Essential Information

Type Workshops
Location
Date and Times Saturday 21 October 2023 | 2-4pm
Prices Pay what you can: £0.00, £5.00, £10.00

Artist Amanni Hassan Hollands leads a craft workshop exploring various prompts on land-dwelling and seafaring communities from the United Arab Emirates. Through the act of palm leaf weaving, participants will begin to uncover aspects of cultural exchange along the ancient sea-trading routes. From India to Venice, the journey involves silks, spices and pearls; songs, stories and poetry.

photo of the sea hitting the rocky shore
Photo courtesy of Nabil Tazi

Workshop overview

Welcome

2pm-2.20pm

Welcome and introduction with talking circle. Amanni will deliver a short introductory presentation on the background/ideas of the workshop. Participants are invited to discuss, comment, feedback via a talking circle. Refreshments provided.

Palm leaf weaving

2.20pm-3.40pm

Participants will each be given a bundle of palm leaves, and a needle. They will also be able to select from a range of sari silks to embellish their weaving. Amanni will lead an explanation/demonstration of the craft and set participants going on the task. The aim will be to complete one round of coil weaving which can be used as a coaster or for decorative purposes. 

All materials are provided and can be taken home by participants at the end of the workshop.

photo : side portrait of a young woman

About the artist

Amanni Hassan Hollands (pictured above) is a British-Emirati artist concerned with the frameworks of identity and time explored through archival methodology. Her practice is formulated via investigative interrogation of what can be derived from a collection, whilst recording the oral histories woven by its storytellers. Incorporating craft, sound and installation techniques, her reactivation of archival information through methods of display challenges conventional perceptions of time. The intention is to secure seemingly disparate elements towards a greater understanding of family identity and more widely multi-ethnicity.

Hassan Hollands is a graduate of the School of Art, Architecture and Design, London Metropolitan University (BA Fine Art) and was awarded a place on the British Council’s Venice Fellowship Programme, 2023.

2 dhows sailing on a purple sea

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