SEMESTER 1: PROJECT NAME: INTERWOVEN COMMUNITIES SEMESTER 2: PROJECT NAME: A GLIMPSE BEHIND THE CURTAIN

by Suzana Meziad

Interwoven Communities is a neighbourhood weaving centre in London’s Southwark, a project that draws analogies between the 18th century cotton workers of Manchester and their stitched banners of communal loyalty and the migration of Syrian refugees making hand-woven cloth as a visual language of bonding and familial connections.

In our society of the spectacle, the stitches of garments go unnoticed, the hours of labour and weaving of fabric are forgotten. We clap the actors with little thought for the set constructors, wig-makers or bandaged feet hidden under costumes. A glimpse behind the curtain takes us to the magical world of the backstage, celebrating the processes and people of performance that are normally hidden from view. We need a space to shed light on the reality of the imagined ‘’effortless production’’. To expose the truth about social situations. Stories to empower and to humanise. No longer a highlight showreel or curated vision.