FABRIC OF OUR LIVES launches online for REFUGEE WEEK 2020

FABRIC OF OUR LIVES

REFUGEE WEEK 2020

Fabric of Our Lives

by Matilda Velevitch and Sol Aizcorbe

Migration Matters Festival – Refugee Week

June 15^th – 20^th 2020

Fabric of Our Lives – An immersive Photographic, Storytelling and Textile exhibition focusing on the themes of WOMEN MOVING FORWARD, FORCED MIGRATION, HOME, and FORMER UK TEXTILE TOWNS.

Fabric of Our Lives is a new installation by Artist, Matilda Velevitch and Photographer, Sol Aizcorbe. It comprises of seven large hanging tapestries, a photographic exhibition and ambient audio stories all developed as a film for Refugee Week 2020.

Here is a preview Link: https://youtu.be/NmcN_cD4I9o

Fabric of Our Lives was devised as an artistic project for Refugee Week, to accompany the UK Tour of award winning play, THREE MOTHERS in 2019. The themes are Women Moving Forward, Female Refugee and Asylum Seekers, the Textile Industry and Home.

In 2019, a series of fabric based artistic workshops were held for women in former Textile towns (Wakefield, Bradford, Bolton and Manchester) which historically and currently receive a large number of Migrants and Asylum Seekers. Further workshops were held at the Migration Museum London, the Whitworth Gallery, Refugee Week, Sheffield and in a Safe house for Refugee Women in Calais.

The participants (refugees, asylum seekers and locally born women) who share the same “neighbourhood,” are the contributing artists. Their tapestry work, their stories and their portraits were curated into an exhibition made up of:

. Tapestry of Our Lives: 7 hanging collaborative tapestries

. Portraits of Our Lives: A photographic exhibition (52 prints) made up of four categories:

Portraits, Industry, Connection and Calais.

. Snippets of Our Lives: An immersive audio ambience made up of collected and shared

anecdotes during the workshops.

Matilda Velevitch says: “I designed the Fabric of Our Lives Workshops to invite a wide range of women to come together to create a lasting piece of participative art for exhibition, symbolising and celebrating the importance of women moving forward, rebuilding lives and creating a new perspective of “home” within changing communities in Britain. Every part of this exhibition is the result of artistic female collaboration, and we are very excited to launch the project online with Migration Matters Festival for Refugee Week.

I would like to thank The National Lottery Heritage Fund for supporting us, as well as the artistic collaboration of City of Sanctuary, Counterpoint Arts, Journeys Festival, Migration Matters Festival, the Migration Museum, London and Art Refuge UK.”

Listings Info

Artists: Matilda Velevitch and Sol Aizcorbe

Title: Fabric of Our Lives

Dates: June 15 – 20 2020

Admission: Free

For all enquiries, please contact Matilda Velevitch on 07770 420 399 or matildavelevitch@gmail.com

www.fabricofourlives.co.uk

Twitter: @3Mothersplay Instagram @UsefulProductions

Notes to Editors

Sol Aizcorbe

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Sol first studied a degree in Fashion but quickly moved from working with textiles, to capturing people on film. After completing further studies in photojournalism, she concentrated on projects which highlighted the power of human resilience. Working in deprived areas, with children and people subject to forced migration, she captured the essence of humanitarian spirit across Europe. A few years later, unable to return home to Argentina due to the economic crisis, she settled in London as a migrant herself. It is no wonder her photographic portraits capture feeling, emotion and human essence in each face. Recent projects include “House Taken Over” with Martin Cordiano at Balin House and the Tate Modern.

https://www.solphotography.me/

Matilda Velevitch

Matilda Velevitch is a playwright and artist. Her play, Three Mothers won a number of awards and completed a successful UK tour in 2019. Her own family background is one of migration, and much of her work concentrates on the effect of human diaspora. Other work includes, All In the Same Boat, The Netherlands, 1974, Demonstration and A Million Percent. She is currently preparing an immersive exhibition, Broadway, focussing on hidden yet authentic communities in unlikely urban postcodes.

www.velevitch.com

Migration Matters Festival

https://www.migrationmattersfestival.co.uk/2020-programme

National Lottery Heritage Fund

The Heritage Fund uses money raised by players of the National Lottery to inspire, lead and resource the UK’s heritage to create positive and lasting change for people and communities, now and in the future.

https://www.heritagefund.org.uk/