Weaving Connections Between Tradition and Contemporary Practices of Wool, with sonic intervention by Leila Bencharnia
This sharing will be in a mixture of French and Darija.
A sharing & conversation on the Siroua breed, Aazibs, wool and the contemporary practices that keep traditions evolving and resilient.
Join us at Dar Bellarj for a conversation with Annie Lauvaux (Siroua project), GDF team Hakima & Rachid Kaddouri and community partner from Siroua. The evening will open with a sonic intervention from Leila Bencharnia (remotely).
Annie Lauvaux will present her work within the community in Siroua. Annies ongoing work with the community aims to conserve and raise awareness about the Siroua breed of sheep –– a rare breed that produces high quality wool and that encourages sustainable practices around it. Annie will share more on the biocultural landscapes that the Siroua breed is embedded in including the constraints that threaten its ongoing existence and stewardship including land grabbing and privatisation, conflicts between agricultural practices and farming and extending to the cultural practices that surround wool including a shift in transmission of textile know-how.
One of the key issues this conversation aims to reflect on collectively with attendees is how to make the whole territory more resilient. The dialogue will consider the importance of recultivating specific traditional practices but also thinking through the evolutions needed to adapt them to new climatic and social conditions.
Craft and the arts play a significant role in shaping and reimagining and transmitting these critical questions, and to that end we invite artists working on questions of traditional/raw materials to join us in reflecting on these issues by opening with a sound work by Leila Bencharnia made in response to women’s work in textile. We also encourage artists in our community to join and be vocal in the opening out of the discussion.
GDF HACL Photographer Rachid Kaddouri who alongside our colleague Hakima is working on a short documentary that tells L’aazib story will also be sharing his “work in progress” portraits, sound recordings and photography from field visits to the L’aazibs.