https://alayaang.com Alaya Ang Fri, 31 Oct 2025 17:37:19 +0000 https://alayaang.com en http://alayaang.com/Unfolding-the-Sarong Fri, 31 Oct 2025 17:37:19 +0000 Alaya Ang 458340 Unfolding the Sarong,&nbsp;Gender and Cloth 2025, with the Paul Mellon Centre's young people's workshops convened by Gabe Beckhurst and Jess Bailey Glasgow Zine Library This workshop engages with Southeast Asian sarongs as vessels for ancestral memory and cultural history.&nbsp; <img width="6240" height="4160" width_o="6240" height_o="4160" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/1629d36e0ee0a3013ac5187eb389fad1d95b943f7547c3ea1d46eaac0a540581/DSCF7030.jpg" data-mid="1422991" border="0" />We looked at the different forms and patterns of sarongs and Peranakan traditions to consider how gender, storytelling and resistance are explored through cloth. Sarongs invite us to explore gender beyond a binary as they carry distinct cultural and symbolic meanings across Southeast Asia, allowing for diverse gender expressions. The Bugis people of Sulawesi, for example, recognise five genders, and sarong styles shift accordingly; in performance traditions such as Wayang Peranakan, a Malay theatre form, the sarong moves between masculinity and femininity depending on how it is worn. <img width="6240" height="4160" width_o="6240" height_o="4160" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/619b367673dca54bb5261aa13b46c62507e2d21bfc0a1fb1f8e3e2c71d6c538b/IMG_1895.jpg" data-mid="1422993" border="0" /> Participants did hands-on batik, a wax-resist dyeing technique, and learnt to use canting, a traditional pen-like tool to create their batik tulis (hand-drawn batik), developing individual motifs to inscribe personal and collective narratives onto cloth. <img width="6240" height="4160" width_o="6240" height_o="4160" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/6d266117bee0c3d2bb7b8ac21b4a536f73d0ed39337ddcceda8390242170561a/DSCF7040.jpg" data-mid="1422992" border="0" /> Unfolding the Sarong,&nbsp;Gender and Cloth 2025, with the Paul Mellon Centre's young people's workshops convened by Gabe Beckhurst and Jess Bailey Glasgow Zine... http://alayaang.com/SCORE Fri, 31 Oct 2025 15:55:53 +0000 Alaya Ang 458338 SCOREScotland Women’s Sewing Groupfacilitated in collaboration with Edinburgh Arts Festival (2024-2025)Collective making serves as both a methodology and a format for fostering social encounters, building skills, and forming connections. The workshops became spaces of shared learning and mutual exchange, where each participant contributed their own narrative, skill, and aesthetic sensibility to the collective process.&nbsp; <img width="1378" height="1222" width_o="1378" height_o="1222" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/7124cf7b7178a989f4cca15f601fbc2d44bfd76194ed510d765589dd106122d1/Screenshot-2025-10-31-at-4.07.51-PM.png" data-mid="1422990" border="0" /> <img width="1152" height="1236" width_o="1152" height_o="1236" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/f7fe53b09fb1cfbc36c6c75c2aa1c00f881b897064feeff749c95eb9be0e390c/Screenshot-2025-10-31-at-4.07.41-PM.png" data-mid="1422989" border="0" /> <img width="2056" height="1378" width_o="2056" height_o="1378" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/24dca579c2bb7cc5086e18d5d8c9154f6dfad99a9dc16597bd1b1fd4f0894ff8/Screenshot-2025-10-31-at-4.07.32-PM.png" data-mid="1422988" border="0" />In this project, I worked with women from SCOREscotland’s sewing group in Edinburgh to create textile works that draw upon their lived experiences of migration and belonging. BATIK WAX TECHNIQUE&nbsp; Introducing the group to wax-resist tecnique famous in Indonesia and regions in Southeast Asia. We applied molten wax to cloth to create drawings and patterns to form multi-colored designs. <img width="5952" height="4464" width_o="5952" height_o="4464" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/9295bd1392ad8f83d3965dcb8c538f74a15c0e6e244f3a4532df405a539377b9/IMG_4563_1.JPG" data-mid="1422986" border="0" /><img width="3219" height="2226" width_o="3219" height_o="2226" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/fa4c21ba36b372b334c90d8939806e04274b1b3540f5b7e7154829b8092bbc5e/IMG_4584-1.JPG" data-mid="1422987" border="0" /> HAND-SEWING We explored sewing traditions such as kantha and sashiko, connecting different cultural practices of repair, storytelling, and care. Through the slow gestures of drawing, stitching, and layering cloth, conversations unfolded around memory, home, and identity.&nbsp; <img width="2736" height="3648" width_o="2736" height_o="3648" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/f1c593b0dad822455411d1b1c3c1ffd367913d6704a034731868abce137d0131/IMG_20250423_133430.jpg" data-mid="1422984" border="0" /><img width="2736" height="3648" width_o="2736" height_o="3648" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/35848dc5a8521284463a0378386a22e56194284cd6a1cced00f203ebbe82c863/IMG_20250423_131155.jpg" data-mid="1422985" border="0" /> SCOREScotland Women’s Sewing Groupfacilitated in collaboration with Edinburgh Arts Festival (2024-2025)Collective making serves as both a methodology and a format... http://alayaang.com/unravelled-gathering Fri, 06 Sep 2024 17:13:55 +0000 Alaya Ang 454201 Alaya Ang&nbsp;Unravelled Gathering (The Rope) Talbot Rice Residents &nbsp;16 Mar - 31 May 2024 &nbsp; Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh Unravelled Gathering explores the entanglements of migration and labour drawing connections between familial ties, maritime journeys, and movement across water. The work references the histories of the Samsui women, Chinese female migrants who arrived in British Malaya between the 1920s and 1940s, undertaking strenuous labour in construction and industry. Their resilience and toil remain embedded in the infrastructures of the region. Responding to the practice of using lead lines to measure water depth, a method historically employed in navigation, the work replaces these weighted ties with ceramic bangles, referencing roof tiles and zodiac reliefs linked to Alaya’s family lineage. The maroon-dyed rope could symbolise an umbilical cord that is a connection to ancestral matrilineages while moon blocks (traditional divination objects) serve as conduits for divine knowledge and unseen forces shaping migration paths. <img width="5472" height="3648" width_o="5472" height_o="3648" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/31305e14dc4fd3b1c508c27437899cb67bc1a90f6bb4aa3d6e9f97cfcb512431/02_TR_SallyJubb_Photo1.jpg" data-mid="1381230" border="0" /> The nautical unit of measurement for the depth of water is in ‘fathom’, from the Old Norse word, fathmr, for “outstretched arms” that was standardized at six-feet. Responding to this practice of depth measuring, the series of cast ceramic tubes contains imagery of zodiac animals from Alaya’s family intermingled with motifs of the landscape, clouds, mountains and sea. Wax castings of feet in their suspended state, held at sharp angles, create a flow of choreography that forms a material link to Alaya’s family who are tailors, conveying the image of arched feet over treadles of sewing machines and to Samsui women, a group of Chinese female immigrants who came to Malaya and Singapore between the 1920s and 40s, who did manual hard labour similar to coolies. <img width="574" height="464" width_o="574" height_o="464" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/1009161a8720996eef881fed9dcf5f665e113f4694f91b665c4df63ca9f2dd56/img0031.jpg" data-mid="1381231" border="0" /><img width="800" height="531" width_o="800" height_o="531" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/a844f6d284f30ca1c73ba7d71433893fcc38c5d5bb5ff32abafe9db5b3a377eb/samsui-women-1.jpg" data-mid="1381234" border="0" /><img width="585" height="461" width_o="585" height_o="461" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/4f70aec813e583aae6a4dbed5862b8673342b865aa357615c837610360a306d8/img0023.jpg" data-mid="1381233" border="0" />Images courtesy of National Archives of Singapore The moon blocks, made out of wood, carved into a crescent shape are a divination tool frequently used by Alaya’s grandmother when requesting an answer from the divine. The gathering of objects become intimate geometries of sustained spiritual and familial links, they are all forms of attachment to be done and undone, their symbolic configuration looking like relatives in conversation with each other. <img width="4094" height="6141" width_o="4094" height_o="6141" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/cca196f2c3ee5e953b133bc4c6c1a71ef59fae7be28d5fe90bd303eabaffe7d7/DSCF7009-Edit.jpg" data-mid="1376958" border="0" /> <img width="4160" height="6240" width_o="4160" height_o="6240" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/e54ffd1f720e3192dd52c89999a1828f5bc2857fb044f4f109f5d2e491e33e1d/DSCF7029-Edit.jpg" data-mid="1376959" border="0" /> <img width="4094" height="6141" width_o="4094" height_o="6141" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/c3c49237ef870b5e8cb489d2b740a1f7c6320b01ce085ae6016ddfeda4efb7a2/02_TR_Najma_Photo2.jpg" data-mid="1376954" border="0" />The gathering of objects forms an intimate geometry of spiritual and familial connections, where the symbolic configurations function like knots—markers of attachment, endurance, and the continual process of being bound and unbound. Through this constellation of materials, Unravelled Gathering engages with the interwoven narratives of migration, ecology, and the unseen forces that have shape the lived experiences of those who move across waters.  Read Artist Guide Writings from James Clegg and Kandace Siobhan Walker Photo credit: Najma Abukar Special thanks to Robyn Walsh for their assistance on ceramic roof tile tube, and to technicians at Edinburgh College of Art. &nbsp;This work is the first part of a longer-term project The Sea, the Heat, The Rope and The Fingers Pulling the Thread, a series of work that investigates matrilineal and genderqueer genealogies. Each cumulative form is an invitation to relationality by meandering through different material discoveries and processes. Alaya Ang&nbsp;Unravelled Gathering (The Rope) Talbot Rice Residents &nbsp;16 Mar - 31 May 2024 &nbsp; Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh Unravelled... http://alayaang.com/the-fingers-pulling-the-thread Fri, 06 Sep 2024 16:52:45 +0000 Alaya Ang 454200 Alaya Ang The Fingers Pulling The Thread Edinburgh Arts Festival 2024, City Art CentreA floor-based textile piece, The Fingers Pulling the Thread is a meditation on rivers as carriers of histories, migration, and industry. The work features textiles dyed using mud and soil, drawing from a dyeing technique from Guangdong, where my matrilineal lineage can be traced. Cantonese migrants carried mud-dyed clothing as a way to hold onto the land they left behind, when they traveled to Southeast Asia. Sewn into the fabric are river patterns that speak to my family name, 洪 (Ang), which signifies “flood” and “vast waters.” The name originates from communities who lived along rivers and lakes, developing expertise in flood control and irrigation, an ancestral connection to water as both a life-giving and precarious force.&nbsp; <img width="5025" height="3350" width_o="5025" height_o="3350" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/49355ed884512edb3a46b9307c556a7443c81aa67e5a8fc357ec7a07dbaf4834/1K1A8506-1.jpg" data-mid="1376944" border="0" /> <img width="4842" height="3228" width_o="4842" height_o="3228" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/ed0bf26e728bec6ad1fdbf39bc5367fd6c72e8206e4cd3f1ae11a00fc1ac5260/1K1A8569.jpg" data-mid="1376950" border="0" /> Calico, gambiered silk, cotton, river esk mud, soil and shale rock, rice field mud, ceriops tagal, jackfruit heartwood, fire flame bush, oak gallnut powder, symplocos cochinchinensis leaf powder, pu’er tea, soy milk, florida water, cotton and polyester thread, LED tube lights <img width="6000" height="4000" width_o="6000" height_o="4000" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/341eb8e2472449502a3b6e8336ac7fda4bc64a4f29a6fd04f13df8eef1433d73/DSC00678-1.JPG" data-mid="1381251" border="0" /><img width="6000" height="4000" width_o="6000" height_o="4000" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/43b839f5c22489baa91946fdf2589004fe93a6b7af6d184c8441c9f06fa8c15e/DSC00646.JPG" data-mid="1381253" border="0" /> <img width="1448" height="2172" width_o="1448" height_o="2172" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/af761c603fe02b068abb7e2b6458f8fc8ddb3fbf14040ff5308c1bf1841bf091/AlayaAng_ArtBasel_HighRes_2-1.jpg" data-mid="1376951" border="0" /> River patterns sewn into the fabric, photo by Murray Orr <img width="4842" height="3228" width_o="4842" height_o="3228" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/ed0bf26e728bec6ad1fdbf39bc5367fd6c72e8206e4cd3f1ae11a00fc1ac5260/1K1A8569.jpg" data-mid="1376950" border="0" /><img width="3851" height="2567" width_o="3851" height_o="2567" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/7a49b22405206dd85600dc831f61b83a3c6d16c69097c2bb9a9702fd8ec71f76/1K1A8498.jpg" data-mid="1376949" border="0" /><img width="4369" height="2913" width_o="4369" height_o="2913" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/412a12a01440936962ecd6bda771b69a5c5886528ca9dfa0d2f3035d9c2605cf/1K1A8497.jpg" data-mid="1376948" border="0" /><img width="6000" height="4000" width_o="6000" height_o="4000" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/3f22e536d4780d507c35312daa2e15605065ae78bab87170992e36ec12d45afe/DSC00686.JPG" data-mid="1376947" border="0" />Guidance (The Way of an Ancestor) Patterns are embroidered onto joss paper, traditionally used in ancestral worship as spirit money.In a traditional funeral ceremony, burning spirit money is the final act performed by a family member, ensuring a smooth crossing into the afterlife. This acts as an offering that, like water, serves as a passage between worlds.&nbsp; <img width="2148" height="720" width_o="2148" height_o="720" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/4f54dc03903fbd32ecb22e48286b3ca0d5d1971b82b370bf3e67d3b04e9c6e36/Screenshot-2024-09-06-at-18.09.09.png" data-mid="1376953" border="0" /> Interwoven with the textiles is a collection of sounds recorded on site at my family’s tailoring shop These sonic elements reflect the unseen labour of garment-making and the transmission of knowledge through touch, repetition, and rhythm.&nbsp; Special thanks to Meg Jenkins for sound design Participative Archiving&nbsp;As part of the exhibition, audience were invited to contribute to the work by drawing or sewing patterns onto the fabric. They were invited to map a terrain, a fracture pattern, a timeline, or a water channel.This open-ended engagement allowed for the accumulation of marks and interventions, positioning the work as a living archive that continues to evolve. By foregrounding participation, the work resists fixed historical narratives, instead centering fluid, co-authored ways of knowing and remembering. These gestures created a collective palimpsest of movement and memory, layering personal and ecological narratives onto the cloth. <img width="850" height="1272" width_o="850" height_o="1272" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/cb6d3fc5741a939af6536f7f68a7f33f4ef81bb4ea190c33ed5a97bdd1f78404/Screenshot-2024-10-18-at-22.15.03.png" data-mid="1381514" border="0" /> <img width="3671" height="5507" width_o="3671" height_o="5507" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/0d23d7c71c02a599501469741cfe17de24a8540c53b401141f6e641191ba2b5c/BT6A1862-1.jpg" data-mid="1397462" border="0" /> photo by Sally Jubb courtesy of Edinburgh Arts FestivalWorking with Migrant Women’s Group a four-session collaboration with SCOREScotland Women’s Sewing Group, we extended the exhibited textile work through collective sewing, making and conversation, allowing the exhibition to become a living, evolving space shaped by the women’s skills, stories and labour. See more for workshops <img width="4608" height="2592" width_o="4608" height_o="2592" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/62fe07321c2d5872292118c4693409971b3559670231f6b2d1dcc181becdf6c0/P1011359.jpg" data-mid="1397458" border="0" /> <img width="2736" height="3648" width_o="2736" height_o="3648" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/6b30c137e0294bdabc52044d2d26e85820b89d40add28d7a94cfac8e8cbbc4dd/IMG_20240821_110536.jpg" data-mid="1381500" border="0" /> This work is the second part of a longer-term project The Sea, the Heat, The Rope and The Fingers Pulling the Thread, a series of work that investigates matrilineal and genderqueer genealogies. Each cumulative form is an invitation to relationality by meandering through different material discoveries and processes. Alaya Ang The Fingers Pulling The Thread Edinburgh Arts Festival 2024, City Art CentreA floor-based textile piece, The Fingers Pulling the Thread is a meditation... http://alayaang.com/confluence Thu, 08 Sep 2022 20:24:55 +0000 Alaya Ang 430112 CONFLUENCEA programme curated by Alaya Ang, Francesca Masoero and Shayma Nader Weaving together different territories, stories, and communities, Confluence seeks to reflect on the transformative and generative moments of breakdown; resistances in the water; pirate practices as care; and harbours as sites of both extractive economies and redistributive ecologies. <img width="5120" height="3840" width_o="5120" height_o="3840" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/54b0fb804684b3f03a0a08c6fa9b0c3dd8e023bce0fd9cadafe28066b077dc6e/confluence2.jpg" data-mid="1273601" border="0" /> Confluence articulates through interrelated strands: a residency and a research programme, a film programme and a final exhibition. Each of these aims to create a framework for artists, researchers, curators, and scholars to engage in conversation and share knowledge around water as a matter and an architecture shaping times, spaces, our ways to relate to, and understand them. Our entry points are literatures of the sea; inland and fluvial mobility routes carving trades, conflicts and exchanges throughout the Mediterranean and the Sahara; intimate histories and current legacies of colonial administrations of the waters intertwining different territories across seas; as well as coastal and fluvial ecologies in Scotland, Morocco, and beyond. While taking into account contemporary material infrastructures of (im)mobility, the project also explores how thinking relationally through water affects our understanding of identities as shifting, various and in-flux. Strand 1: The Residency Programme in Morocco &amp; Scotland The residency was open to 6 artists and cultural practitioners based in Scotland and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and offered a framework for the participants to expand on their existing research and practice from the vantage point of a different locality. Artists (CCA, Glasgow)&nbsp; Bahaleen (Jordon) &nbsp; |&nbsp; Raymond Gemayel (Lebanon) |&nbsp; Youssef El Idrissi (Morocco)Artists (LE18, Marrakech) Maria Howard&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; |&nbsp; &nbsp;Natasha Thembiso Ruwona &nbsp; | Saoirse Amira Anis Read more... <img width="6000" height="4000" width_o="6000" height_o="4000" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/064518ed813ba68ad88d1cd77b3379f7556fd2332df479a6f4c69bd83dd3ea0d/DSC00036.JPG" data-mid="1273611" border="0" /> <img width="836" height="1104" width_o="836" height_o="1104" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/cbf1f7697bcc154d036ab558b3083c49e86a3f7c09a2850f3890c5cdf766c493/Screenshot-2023-03-01-at-21.21.26.png" data-mid="1273602" border="0" /><img width="824" height="1108" width_o="824" height_o="1108" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/95e600f05840e1ca6b5b51ee6a64e28f118fcf69e48a1cc44dfe67582f5085f1/Screenshot-2023-03-01-at-21.17.49.png" data-mid="1273609" border="0" /> &nbsp;Strand 2: The Research Programme and Open SessionsParticipating Artists and Researchers: Noor Abed | Ifor Duncan&nbsp; |&nbsp; Joanne Matthews&nbsp; | Robert Thomas James Mills&nbsp; |&nbsp; Margarida Mendes&nbsp; | Alia Mossallam&nbsp; | Noureddine Ezarraf |&nbsp; Fayrouz Yousfi&nbsp; |&nbsp; &nbsp;Tarek Bouraque&nbsp; | Amine Lahrach (SAFINA) |&nbsp; Jamila Bargach &nbsp; |&nbsp; Joachim Ben Yakoub &nbsp; | Sónia Vaz Borges and Filipa César &nbsp;|&nbsp; Audrey and Maxime Jean Baptiste |&nbsp;Carlos Perez Marin&nbsp; |&nbsp; Audi George Bajalia&nbsp; |&nbsp; &nbsp;Hicham Bouzid &nbsp;|&nbsp; &nbsp; David Borthwick &nbsp; |&nbsp; &nbsp; Ayesha Hameed&nbsp; |&nbsp; Omar Moujane &amp; Othmane Ouallal&nbsp;| &nbsp; Amine Dhioui (Salsala)&nbsp; | &nbsp; Emily Hayes-Rich Through workshops, film screenings and conversations inviting artists, activists and researchers from around the Mediterranean, we investigated the notion of the barzakh; a liminal space, and one in-between where technologies, social formations, and practices of the otherwise keep existing and resisting in the backdrop of colonial and capitalistic erasures. Moving from water as an elemental and infrastructural force, researching how, while dominant narratives crystallise, counternarratives keep being whispered and shared, carried by (space)ship, fog droplets and oceanic waves travelling times and spaces from the coast of Morocco across the Atlantic, or by the songs and tales of dispossessed populations along riverbanks – from Egypt to Portugal, all the way to South America. <img width="1936" height="650" width_o="1936" height_o="650" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/e5c385724dd94a89c269375666b7cf47547392b8d330e344d4822ad90789f41d/Screenshot-2023-03-01-at-21.08.37.png" data-mid="1273603" border="0" /><img width="1940" height="634" width_o="1940" height_o="634" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/6bdf182e97469d8d4aa226016f1e8219c05ed27318149803922e467ad8e706f3/Screenshot-2023-03-01-at-21.08.31.png" data-mid="1273605" border="0" /><img width="1934" height="652" width_o="1934" height_o="652" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/416ad897e3c9df35824fd9209ab9deb54bb37f82e0047cf0c1cccb505bd4a739/Screenshot-2023-03-01-at-21.07.11.png" data-mid="1273606" border="0" /><img width="1954" height="660" width_o="1954" height_o="660" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/6fd92de09eda32e30199f6f582b0e562ad0ff3a35341118d64b415c4089c15cf/Screenshot-2023-03-01-at-21.07.02.png" data-mid="1273607" border="0" /><img width="1932" height="656" width_o="1932" height_o="656" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/033b2c166125e20408aacbe630addd61bbd6a1b285deaf00669e0c3048457005/Screenshot-2023-03-01-at-21.06.53.png" data-mid="1273608" border="0" /> In investigating the ecologies and economies of the sea, we learned about the many ways in which winds carry the potential of new water harvests. In questioning dominant academic infrastructures, engaging with the potential for winds to be vessels of knowledge and modes of unlearning and relearning. By unpacking colonial politics of territorial domination, we asked ourselves how the making of one’s harvest determines the dispossession of many others. Programme&nbsp;booklet&nbsp; Programme booklet 2 Strand 3: Exhibition&nbsp; All Islands Connect Under Water <img width="7360" height="4912" width_o="7360" height_o="4912" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/a51c3b2fcc3a42663635f30ecc34f7716826ac48ce2be3e91b46613fec8120f6/_DSC9436.JPG" data-mid="1323063" border="0" data-scale="88"/>An exhibition by Asha Athman, Islam Shabana, and Samra Mayanja that explores the sea and other bodies of water as contested cultural, political, legal, and socio-economic territories. The exhibition uses the idea of the barzakh, a state of "in-between," to map out submerged stories and fragmented world. Read more... All beginning in water, all ending in water. Turquoise, aquamarine, deep green, deep blue, ink blue, navy, blue-black cerulean water……Water is the first thing in my memory. The sea sounded like a thousand secrets, all whispered at the same time.” Dionne Brand, A Map To The Door of No ReturnMore details on&nbsp;Exhibition &nbsp; The programme is hosted by the Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow and LE18 Morocco, initiated by Alaya Ang (CCA Glasgow), Francesca Masoero &amp; Shayma Nader (QANAT) It is supported by the International Collaboration Grant from the British Council. Design of Confluence programme by&nbsp;Sofia Fahli back CONFLUENCEA programme curated by Alaya Ang, Francesca Masoero and Shayma Nader Weaving together different territories, stories, and communities, Confluence seeks to... http://alayaang.com/Domestic-Fever Wed, 09 Sep 2020 04:48:55 +0000 Alaya Ang 384098 Domestic FeverCreation Station (children aged 6-11), with Platform Easterhouse <img width="2058" height="1144" width_o="2058" height_o="1144" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/21f10d99d336d65f09aa940cd61044ec053fe02e267a45073e5d776b6feee3a6/Screenshot-2020-09-09-at-04.49.06.png" data-mid="979269" border="0" /><img width="2044" height="1144" width_o="2044" height_o="1144" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/922b6dd343280e1d86d75194ec8b23e37e34b9227db420da62e963ad5e4594fb/Screenshot-2020-09-09-at-04.54.39.png" data-mid="979267" border="0" /><img width="1980" height="1114" width_o="1980" height_o="1114" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/e178f32a65772a26d2fce98a8d60f8a66da7d416f7491ffe674d3006dd6ccdee/Screenshot-2020-09-09-at-04.55.45.png" data-mid="979273" border="0" /> <img width="2020" height="1142" width_o="2020" height_o="1142" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/f57f48074db314f04d0cf556f45ad6ea5925a63ff9789af3c418f80c1adec412/Screenshot-2020-09-09-at-04.52.54.png" data-mid="979265" border="0" /><img width="2050" height="1124" width_o="2050" height_o="1124" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/729fc01607258082f1d8d624d4f2b4a341a530869b0f3deb14fb59ee4c278b7a/Screenshot-2020-09-09-at-04.51.14.png" data-mid="979266" border="0" /><img width="5000" height="3324" width_o="5000" height_o="3324" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/f868af07255bc72067f8f8170871c6c432a93785a83b769de9ed48a62f5f1fda/domesticfever.jpg" data-mid="979272" border="0" /> Working with Creation Station at The Platform Arts Centre over a course of 7 sessions, we developed a series of vocal and movement exercises for the children to develop skills and confidence in creating their unique performance. We also spent a few sessions on costume-making with the children using DIY methods and everyday objects to create costumes and headgear for their performance. The performance, Domestic Fever, uses the movements that we do in our homes such as sweeping, washing, opening the door to create a piece put to an edited song of Justin Bieber’s - the chosen favourite by the children. Domestic FeverCreation Station (children aged 6-11), with Platform Easterhouse Working with Creation Station at The Platform Arts Centre over a course of 7... http://alayaang.com/Roti-Zameen-Azaadi Sun, 06 Sep 2020 07:57:33 +0000 Alaya Ang 383254 Roti, Zameen, Azaadi | Bread, Land, Freedom The Project Cafe, Glasgow (2019) <img width="1200" height="1600" width_o="1200" height_o="1600" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/b74deedc3581138c21abcfad74ed75891c03bac3ca0a503dd22ef235b2f80b7c/86311390_1939019639574811_8634880759032709120_n.jpg" data-mid="978274" border="0" /> <img width="1723" height="1292" width_o="1723" height_o="1292" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/6e60896d1cb4ac139532fe6bffe5b5f0072eca0b44191d81bb32d7aded09c1b7/20190630_133758.jpg" data-mid="979260" border="0" data-scale="86"/><img width="1035" height="776" width_o="1035" height_o="776" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/f4729f1a05dc42e9768dbc5179ca6d2c30cac094c757100fc062c7bc160a81c7/20190630_130814.jpg" data-mid="979262" border="0" data-scale="86"/> Azadi (Persian: آزادی‎), from Persian, meaning freedom or liberty. "Bread, freedom and social justice!" was the cry that rallied the people in Egypt during the revolution in 2011. Bread punctuates our collective consciousness, our histories, our memories of home. Part of Refugee Festival Scotland 2019 and working together with Ubuntu Women Shelter and The Centre for Contemporary Arts, this was a one-day bread-making session at The Project Cafe for womxn from countries including India, The Gambia, Ethiopia, Somalia, Pakistan and Sudan and UK to come together. Where flour meets water, these simple ingredients come alive as we share our creativity, stories, knowledge and our culture of bread. Through the time of kneading, proofing and baking, we allowed ourselves to take back time and to imagine what it means to live a no-borders existence. We shared recipes of bread from our different cultures and made naan, focaccia, injera, chapati etc. The workshop closed with a dinner with invited guests to share dishes and bread baked from the day. see event link&nbsp; Ubuntu Women Shelter is a Glasgow-based charity set up to meet the emergency and short term accommodation needs of destitute women (trans and non-binary inclusive) with no recourse to public funds. Roti, Zameen, Azaadi | Bread, Land, Freedom The Project Cafe, Glasgow (2019) Azadi (Persian: آزادی‎), from Persian, meaning freedom or liberty. ... http://alayaang.com/Community-Projects Sun, 06 Sep 2020 02:30:52 +0000 Alaya Ang 383250 Community Projects&nbsp;<img width="1500" height="730" width_o="1500" height_o="730" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/6b9b95abbcf9650288ff4c9b9e837587fb361e496d4237ac527cf37eebe2975b/Sowing-Solidarity-workshops.jpg" data-mid="1398359" border="0" />Sowing Solidarity, Raising Spirits 2022 Sowing Solidarity, Raising Spirits was a mural project in collaboration with Hussein Mitha that explored the politics of gardens and food and its relationship to the community in Govanhill working with studio members and local families.&nbsp; <img width="824" height="1024" width_o="824" height_o="1024" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/9381e913cdd6b87e01f9a991776f0583754550bb4624ca1ad6884606be5358c7/WhatsApp-Image-2021-03-25-at-00.31.50.jpeg" data-mid="1073041" border="0" /> <img width="1024" height="813" width_o="1024" height_o="813" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/23f340ee3dd1074979c47b854ab78877810ca1453709dec84c3baee2c466ced7/WhatsApp-Image-2021-03-25-at-00.32.01.jpeg" data-mid="1073043" border="0" /> A Reunion in the Place Where You Are, Publication, 2021 A 2-month residency with The Wing Hong Centre with Chinese elders in Glasgow exploring creative and collaborative activities, documenting the experience of remotely making together, the artworks created and providing insights into the daily lives of participants during Covid-19 pandemic <img width="1000" height="1370" width_o="1000" height_o="1370" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/1a989bb2d3c23709e10de999d552cf5bef4e92edc322a25945397c65932736d7/Screenshot-2024-09-06-at-17.42.52.png" data-mid="1376937" border="0" />some resources in collaboration with Rumpus Room for children and young people <img width="840" height="1122" width_o="840" height_o="1122" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/1a4c3620326c32e33e4106f0b30c7cc27fb745cec5e9ace914eadf3398bef22f/Screenshot-2024-09-06-at-17.47.19.png" data-mid="1376943" border="0" /> <img width="1225" height="919" width_o="1225" height_o="919" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/77749fdf4bf4cd82d4cf62bc5f4d2a507c91011742fb20cf13bdd1e2e1c3ae2f/DSCN1078.jpg" data-mid="978269" border="0" /> Workshops at Greenock HMP Working with inmates to introduce new and unconventional materials and ways to create artworks that wereput together in an exhibition at The Glasgow School of Art. <img width="1225" height="919" width_o="1225" height_o="919" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/0b248c3467ffea76148d180ffee900a587692ba41e1f3f03f0ae97725d8e2737/20190611_155603.jpg" data-mid="978526" border="0" />Creative Communities Phase 1, Southside Central&nbsp; Creative Communities: Artists in Residence is a Glasgow-wide initiative, bringing artists in residence to every ward of the city. This residency in Ward 8,Southside of Glasgow with delivered in association with Swap Market – a collective that runs an exchange space in Govanhill. Read More → <img width="1225" height="919" width_o="1225" height_o="919" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/a9ba5853a0ffc3d44a129b4205a86ffa746f866a70b7f376fd4bf717a970ccab/IMG_20200306_103103.jpg" data-mid="978261" border="0" />Creative Zine Workshops with Renfrewshire Libraries, Paisley A programme to introduce zine-making, ways of using original or appropriated texts and images to young people that take English as additional language in their schools to celebrate their mother tongue and heritage. <img width="1225" height="919" width_o="1225" height_o="919" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/4be1ded0c0082bc72731f6854fe5ce249ab01e8b86779d51983921d330132317/IMG_20191109_133845.jpg" data-mid="978260" border="0" />Black Men Walking Audience Development Workshops Creating workshops with Perth Theatre and The Beacon Arts Centre in Scotland to allow more&nbsp; access and interest within communities of colour to go to theatres. <img width="4000" height="2664" width_o="4000" height_o="2664" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/6ba660c75d906ea80b01300eac01485313f5ee2272934dbf0f5b72d617e91075/18073547982_11eb6374b3_o.jpg" data-mid="978270" border="0" /> The Art of Getting By An initiative to engage primary school children about issues on poverty through creative and fun workshops, and a 2-week exhibition at Scotland Street School Museum. <img width="1200" height="1600" width_o="1200" height_o="1600" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/7d8ea04306d94e7441ca5264b3125aa8f5b6999524dfcac0c10499dba844bcf3/86311390_1939019639574811_8634880759032709120_n.jpg" data-mid="978257" border="0" /> Roti, Zameen, Azaadi | Bread, Land, Freedom Bread punctuates our collective consciousness, our histories, our memories of home and resistance to oppression. Roti, Zameen, Azaadi is a one-day bread-making session to reclaim the subversive potential of making and sharing bread as a practical strategy in our collective resistance to the UK’s hostile environment towards migrants. Read More → Community Projects&nbsp;Sowing Solidarity, Raising Spirits 2022 Sowing Solidarity, Raising Spirits was a mural project in collaboration with Hussein Mitha that... http://alayaang.com/Irving-Berlin Tue, 09 Jun 2020 11:20:36 +0000 Alaya Ang 370529 IRVING BERLINblipblipblip, Leeds, 2017 Irving Berlin, the name of The Magnetic Fields singer Stephin Meritt’s pet chihuahua, comes to life through a video of a salivating mouth interjected with a series of Youtube footage of owners making out with their dogs. <img width="1335" height="2000" width_o="1335" height_o="2000" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/27e21f9d34c42a0946caa348d0a219c93b49786a55a48484b251690899157dde/a1.jpg" data-mid="937522" border="0" /> This work explores the parameters of our desires through the distilled influence of popular culture and the fascinating relationships we form with our pet animals, through multiple collaged videos of people making out with their dogs. <img width="2000" height="1335" width_o="2000" height_o="1335" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/f297b35a09e7da98173e9c1d688288eba62c681bcc3d3edd176140e79f7653b4/a5.jpg" data-mid="937523" border="0" /> <img width="2000" height="1335" width_o="2000" height_o="1335" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/cb12f2b3f9534172e26dec6333ddb6ba55ad860f3805ebdc92980d844c088c4e/a4.jpg" data-mid="937589" border="0" /> <img width="2000" height="1335" width_o="2000" height_o="1335" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/fe09e0935bcbe944c181f02dbdf654a2589d8960072061e64580b6ca69e4eee8/a2.jpg" data-mid="937587" border="0" /><img width="2000" height="1335" width_o="2000" height_o="1335" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/7a01a3459f794e701f4c0a0eed47931cb92c29ffb012d98f79e26e3a251ad308/a3.jpg" data-mid="937588" border="0" /> IRVING BERLINblipblipblip, Leeds, 2017 Irving Berlin, the name of The Magnetic Fields singer Stephin Meritt’s pet chihuahua, comes to life through a video of a... http://alayaang.com/Empty-Words Tue, 09 Jun 2020 11:03:38 +0000 Alaya Ang 370525 EMPTY WORDS, RICH SONGSRSA New Contemporaries, Royal Scottish Academy, 2017 Video interviews and confessional monologues from bird characters produce a distorted sense of reality, as they speak of their daily lives and struggles. <img width="1045" height="573" width_o="1045" height_o="573" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/eb74066a29995d4c4e6694ffee0e2e3b1367da3928bab33e29a4607f4ba380f5/Screen-Shot-2017-03-29-at-18.28.24.png" data-mid="937115" border="0" /> <img width="1050" height="578" width_o="1050" height_o="578" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/a2a2b43ce43fb6e9e7a7dcee974b2c6bb46a4058366f0f915e6a1d4f6470c65c/Screen-Shot-2017-03-29-at-18.29.19.png" data-mid="937117" border="0" /> <img width="1051" height="579" width_o="1051" height_o="579" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/c7eb4c2d72aaecf91b9c678152e1b6a29b13560204a9aa7da811573ed1f7a21f/Screen-Shot-2017-03-29-at-18.28.54.png" data-mid="937116" border="0" /> <img width="650" height="475" width_o="650" height_o="475" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/c04ab200558f90610bae2a48a76c16165432159dddf7df0ede5a617478dbb7e5/Screen-Shot-2017-03-29-at-18.55.28.png" data-mid="937121" border="0" /> <img width="2969" height="2227" width_o="2969" height_o="2227" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/cbd961f9ebd676ff150fcdfc194e4098703d4050976f873924257212f9caaa6e/C1.jpg" data-mid="937112" border="0" data-scale="98"/> <img width="650" height="478" width_o="650" height_o="478" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/afc550345b90ad7f6162af58e212cd90a01c6d656e9eb01046947f5ff5786d34/Screen-Shot-2017-03-29-at-18.55.06.png" data-mid="937123" border="0" /> At the opening evening, the birds emerge once more, flocking and prancing amongst the audience before a monologue is delivered. Cigarette filters are thrown to the birds, an empty, transactional gesture, echoing the way artists are frequently offered exposure in place of remuneration.<img width="1690" height="1074" width_o="1690" height_o="1074" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/e69c884523bc9932c8d6ce3ab2f74003b2e22a58a557647539545389776b1720/Screen-Shot-2017-03-29-at-18.36.46.png" data-mid="937107" border="0" /> <img width="1780" height="1072" width_o="1780" height_o="1072" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/b1d1350e61392e077937da4704f72441ac3ae02dad467ec7cf5ac52bf0b276eb/Screen-Shot-2017-03-29-at-18.37.11.png" data-mid="937099" border="0" /> <img width="1905" height="1065" width_o="1905" height_o="1065" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/19bbf04604e6124a8235f4bfe8e15f4c4061b75270e738f890a22f3ed962e082/Screen-Shot-2017-03-29-at-18.41.47.png" data-mid="937093" border="0" /> Video on monitors and performance Performers:&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Francesca Hawker, James Findlay, Heidi Chiu&nbsp;Music:&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Jame Findlay Blackbird Recording:&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Paul Nesbitt Empty Words, Rich Songs was created at a time of abrupt closure of Inverleith House that prompted more than 10,000 people to sign a petition against the move (see article). The work had invited Paul Nesbitt the Director of Exhibitions and curator of The Inverleith House for 30 years to record his voice as a blackbird to memoralise his time at the gallery. <img width="3264" height="2448" width_o="3264" height_o="2448" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/5bed84b768fad94b686aab1011020afd2fcba74455138a0bb4d5af3a59379869/IMG_1195.jpg" data-mid="937272" border="0" /><img width="5184" height="3456" width_o="5184" height_o="3456" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/cacfd7691d063b590129caa069710ecf7f43f0b899bf563e2753c780230c98f4/C3.jpg" data-mid="937113" border="0" /> The sign ‘Can’t Afford a Miracle’ in mirroring Nathan Coley’s illuminated text, ‘There Will Be No Miracles Here’ at The National Galleries of Scotland is&nbsp; a response to the peculiar dilemma of the arts with regard to the economy and the art spaces and programmes that are cut as a result. The road sign was placed in front of the closed Inverleith House at the end of the exhibition run at the RSA. EMPTY WORDS, RICH SONGSRSA New Contemporaries, Royal Scottish Academy, 2017 Video interviews and confessional monologues from bird characters produce a distorted...