Konjit Seyoum, Remains, Nov 2015; Grandmother’s old gabi (cotton blanket), coal, cotton spool.
(Photo by Konjit Seyoum)
ZONES OF SENSITIVITY
- An Afternoon of Texts and Voices -
In the beginning the gesture of writing is linked to the experience of disappearance, to the feeling of having lost the key to the world, of having been thrown outside. Of having suddenly acquired the precious sense of the rare, of the mortal. Of having urgently to regain the entrance, the breath, to keep trace. – Hélène Cixous
One afternoon. Five writers. Five Readers. Five texts, woven into one.
A program consisting of live readings of original texts exploring the theme of the “The Imperceptible Self”.
What is more ephemeral than the Self? The moment we arrive, we are already departing. But while we are here, a language emerges from within us. It springs from the mysterious depths of our beings. This language is inherent. It’s curious. It’s brave. It’s adventurous. It’s ancestral. It’s spiritual. It testifies. It suffers yet persists. It remembers. It is honest and it is urgent. It is liberated and therefore liberates. It connects and therefore is connected.
We read and we write because language allows us to hear and speak at the same time. And in this borderless space, we can live as one and all, interchangeably.
So on this occasion, the writers weave together their texts. Distinct voices merge to tell one story. A story that can only exist in this place, where each voice, gives up territory to allow the other to enter.
Participating Artists:
Zeerak Ahmed, Christopher Danowski, Margaret Hart, Michele Manzini, Konjit Seyoum
Curator: Ladan Yalzadeh
Yalzadeh—an award winning filmmaker, writer, performer and curator—has written, produced and directed several narrative films including, THE EXTRAORDINARE, AWAKENED and THE FLORIST. Most recently she was commissioned to create a fifteen-minute, eight screen video installation piece, MOSAIC, for the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, consisting of five documentary and music video segments exploring heritage.
Yalzadeh’s written pieces have been published in a variety of publications and her installation and performance works have been presented at SOIL Gallery, Bumbershoot Arts Festival, Full Nelson and Yale Gallery among others.
Before arriving at filmmaking she worked in the performing arts, producing, writing and directing for the stage. She has worked as curator and co-curator on several projects including 10+ Seattle, INSCAPE and Full Nelson Performance Exhibitions.
Yalzadeh attended Seattle’s Cornish College of the Arts with a focus on theater, and graduated from Washington’s Evergreen State College with a degree in film. She is currently finishing her Creative Practice MFA at Transart Institute.