We will persist 2018

Cotton and silk embroidered hand cut lamé on wool silk cloth

130cm diameter

Exhibited in We are infinite. 2018, Verge Gallery, Camperdown

From the exhibition;

We are infinite.is an exhibition by Sydney-based artist, Nicole Barakat embodying her reconnection with the diaspora of objects from her ancestral homelands in the South West Asia and North Africa (SWANA) region.

Barakat presents a collection of textile works as manifestations of her practice of engaging with displaced, and often stolen objects held within Western museum collections including the Louvre, British Museum and Nicholson Museum. 

To by-pass the gatekeepers and breach the vitrines holding these ancestral objects, Barakat reclaims pre-colonial, non-linear, receptive forms of knowing that are often devalued and dismissed by colonial and patriarchal institutions - engaging with coffee cup divination, dream-work, intuitive listening and conversations with the objects themselves. 

Barakat says, “The importance of reconnecting with these objects is to re-gather my ancestral ways of knowing in this critical time. When we remember the old ways, we remember the strength of who we are, the knowledge of our ancestors and our infinite relationship to our lands.  When we restore our original wisdom, we reclaim our power and ability to transform and heal collective pain and suffering for ourselves, our communities and our lands. We make empowered strides towards dignity and justice for our people and our homelands.”