The Knot Makers

Fozia Ismail is talking about A Song for the Xeedho at Watershed on Friday 25 September, 13:00, with a Q&A afterwards. It's a lunchtime talk, so it's one you can slot into a working day rather than a night out. The session is free and open to all, and it takes place at the Pervasive Media Studio, inside Watershed at 1 Canon's Rd, Bristol BS1 5TX.

Ismail is a British Somali artist and researcher, and a resident of the Pervasive Media Studio. Her work starts with things she's inherited from her mother's Somali nomadic roots — vessels, spices, textiles, cassette tapes and sound recordings — which she brings together into sculptural, time-based and archival pieces. There's a strong thread of lineage, care and shared authorship running through them. She draws on Somali feminist nomadic thinking across food, sound, textiles and immersive storytelling, and she's the founder of Arawelo Eats and co-founder of the dhaqan collective.

A Song for the Xeedho - The Knot Makers is a multi-sensory installation of wedding ropes, weavings and knots. It was commissioned by Counterpoint Arts and Whitechapel Gallery as part of the inaugural Backyard Biennale: East, and funded by Arts Council England. The talk is a chance to hear her talk through the work and the thinking behind it.

Ismail's practice has a long history of crossing over into food and sound. In 2019, she was a Bristol City Fellow at Arnolfini Contemporary Art Centre for her project Camel Meat & Cassette Tapes, which got coverage in The Guardian and BBC Africa Daily. Her food writing has appeared in the Oxford Symposium on Food & Cookery and on BBC Radio 4. The talk starts at 13:00 at the Pervasive Media Studio in Watershed, and it's free for anyone to come along.