Dhaqan Collective is led by Fozia Ismail and Ayan Cilmi.
Our practice asks and seeks to find ways of building imaginative futures that support Somali people here and in East Africa to resist the threats over our cultural heritage. We are a feminist art collective of Somali women, centering the voices of womxn and elders in our community, and privileging co-creation and collaboration.
The collective uses everyday materials, cassette tapes, food, textiles, to create spaces of communion, joy and healing that centre the full range of Somali diasporic experiences.
Our creative ecology is rooted in the collective thinking of Somali nomadic life and the creativity at its heart. In the last few decades, Somali nomadic life has become endangered due to environmental collapse.
The House of Weaving Songs is a prototype that has been developed as part of Playable Cities, an arts & creative technology programme funded through My World at Bristol University and Watershed.
The prototype is inspired by the Somali-style nomadic structure called the Aqal. It is a large scale outdoor interactive installation that integrates Somali weaving songs and woven conductive tapestries in an experiment to connect people to cultural practices that can inspire them in our collective fight to tackle climate change.
Dhaqan Collective's Event Archive
Projects Involving Dhaqan Collective
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