Update: Afghani and Australian Artist Book Collaborations

Recently we received an email from Gali Weiss, an update on a collaborative project between a small group of Australian women artists and women from Afghanistan that Gali instigated in 2009. The concertina books that she refers to can be viewed on The SAWA-Australia site mentioned in her email (see below). The book Women with Wings, illustrated with my linocuts, is reproduced above. The text by Majabeen that accompanies the images reads as follows: 

I am Majabeen, a student of this course.

I was a child with a lot of interests in learning and education but unfortunately I did not have a family to allow me to study. My father used to say (sarcastically) "What is a girl good for? And what good could be her education! I will never let my daughters go to school, just the Qur'an."

I grew up and got married and came to Kabul, got children and tried hard to get them an education. Life went on and at certain moments in life I strongly felt the need to have been literate, meaning I could hardly figure out the difference between a pharmacy and a clothing shop.

Majabeen, daughter of Daulat Khan, a student of this course I hope my story has not been boring.

Thanks.

To learn more about the latest development in the project and pledge your support, visit the link highlighted in Gali's email, which is reproduced here in its entirety: 

In 2009-10 an ambitious art project took place between women artists in Australia and women in Afghanistan. The women wanted to overcome their illiteracy, the artists wanted to support and encourage them to continue their efforts in their right to be literate.

What eventuated was beyond an act of support. It resulted in collaborations between Australian women and women in Afghanistan, integrating images and script in beautiful works of art. The Australian artists produced small concertina-type books in lino print, etchings, photography and other techniques, the Afghan women wrote their life experience into them.

The quality and significance of the books have been recognized by all who have seen them, including the State Library of Queensland which has acquired them as a collection, with the proceeds gone back to the Vocational School.

Moreover, the books tell the stories of the women in Afghanistan in their own words and their own gestures of handwritten script.

This project shows a particular historical moment in time and place. As the messenger for the project who carried the works of the Australian artists to Kabul I now want you to share the experience, so I want to reproduce all art and text with English translation as a high quality art book.

By purchasing a copy of the proposed book you, too, become a part of the project and have a role in it. This publication not only tells the different perspectives of those who were involved in it but is an unmediated voicing of experiences of women in Afghanistan who only recently have been able to write their own stories, who show strength and resilience, now for us to read and thereby to hear.

Altogether there are 36 concertina books. I cannot reproduce them all here, but I include a few examples for you to see, with a few lines of the text written by the Afghan women. If you want to browse through all of them you can go to SAWA-Australia (SA). The final book will have 88 pages, printed in full colour on matt art paper, hard cover.

Gali Weiss

UPDATE: Unfolding Projects: Afghan and Australian Artist's Books

A selection of the artist's books
(Photograph by Gali Weiss)

In late 2009 fourteen Australian women artists were invited to participate in a project initiated by Melbourne artist Gali Weiss, who was initially incited by the desperate situation of women in Afghanistan, many of whom are restricted or even forbidden to attend school. As a result, numerous women are illiterate. The project’s aim was establish a dialogue with some of these women via the imagery created by the Australian artists in a series of small concertina books. The Afghan women were invited to respond by writing their own stories in the language or characters of their choice. (See Blog Posts May 18, 2010 and December 2, 2010.) The books were sent to Afghanistan in April, 2010 and just over 6 months later the 36 of the original 53 books were returned to Australia, each with its own handwritten text.

Some of the Afghan writers (photograph by Latifa)

Recently we received some fantastic news. In September, 2010 Gali Weiss and Barbara Kameniar presented a joint paper, Unfolding Projects: Afghan and Australian artist’s books collaborations at Monash University’s IMPACT 7 Printmaking Conference. Subsequently they were approached by the Queensland State Library with an offer to buy the complete set of books for the library’s permanent collection. Once this has been finalized (in approximately April, 2012) the proceeds of the acquisition will go to the Women’s Vocational Centre in Afghanistan. A book documenting the project is also in the planning stages, and once published, this will provide further income for the Vocational Centre.

The 14 Australian artists were:

Rosalind Atkins, Tracey Avery, Marian Crawford, Ann Cunningham, Dianne Ellis, Susan Gordon-Brown, Jennifer Kamp, Deborah Klein, Anne Riggs, Annelise Scott, Krystal Seigerman, Tanya Ungeri, Gali Weiss and Christine Willcocks;

The Afghan writers were:

Sagia, Mansora, Shakila, Hamida, Fatima, Agila, Majabeen, Mahjan, Samira, Sara, Basira, Anita, Nafiza, Amina, Jamila, Mariam, Zoteh, Nadia, Zahida, Laila, Morsal, Nazia, Jamila, Anis Gul, Lida, Marwa, Habiba, Mah Gul, Taqui Jan. Two of the participants wished to withhold their names from the public.

Until 12 months before they received the books, many of the Afghan writers had been illiterate. To learn about other similarly courageous women, visit SAWA (Support Association for the Women of Afghanistan) HERE. 

(Pictured below: Women With Wings, 2010, photographed just prior to its departure for Afghanistan. Click on image to enlarge.)

Afghanistan and Australian Artists Books return to Australia

Recently the artists involved in the Afghanistan and Australian Artists Books Project (See Blog Post May 18, 2010) received the exciting news that the books are back from Afghanistan. They are currently in the process of being translated. Although the texts cover a range of topics, it appears many of the women have chosen to tell their own stories.

The images we have received at this stage are small and grainy but offer an intriguing preview of what is to come. It is important to note that all the texts were written by women who, little more than 12 months ago, were completely illiterate. Looking at the detail of the book I submitted (second from top) I am delighted at the visual manner in which the text interacts with the imagery.

Project instigator, coordinator and participating artist Gali Weiss has written a proposal to exhibit the books as part of IMPACT 7, the international printmaking conference to be hosted by Monash University, Melbourne in September, 2011. In addition, an article on the project will be published in IMPRINT, the quarterly journal of the Print Council of Australia, in March 2011. The March issue will focus on community-based printmaking projects and socio-political commentary through printmaking. Read more about the project on Gali Weiss's website HERE. 

Unfolding Projects: Afghani and Australian Artist Book Collaborations

In 2009 Artist/Curator Gali Weiss approached a number of Australian artists with the proposal that each produce a small concertina book of images that would form the basis of a dialogue with Afghani women, who would be invited to respond to the images by adding their own texts to the books.

The fourteen artists are Rosalind Atkins, Tracey Avery, Marian Crawford, Ann Cunningham, Dianne Ellis, Susan Gordon-Brown, Jennifer Kamp, Deborah Klein, Ann Riggs, Annelise Scott, Krystal Seigerman, Tanya Ungeri, Gali Weiss and Christine Willcocks.

The books were flown to Afghanistan in mid April.

Here is an excerpt from Gali's website:

"The project is a response to the dire situation of many women in Afghanistan, particularly in relation to literacy. Women in Afghanistan have for years experienced extreme hardships not only due to war but specifically because of their gender. Many women are illiterate because they were and often still are, forbidden, restricted, or discouraged to go to school or complete their education.

Currently, with the assistance of SAWA – Australia (Support Association for the Women of Afghanistan), http://www.sawa-australia.org/, 53 books have been delivered to a vocational training centre in Kabul where women are gaining literacy skills for the first time in their lives. The 53 books comprise the concertinas pictured above and their multiples.

The intent of the artists participating in this project has been to mobilise a process of support and dialogue with Afghani women, that at the same time conveys, “You/we are not alone.” The books can become a conversation – a conversation between women who are in different places, in different circumstances, but who wish to share a voice.

We now await the responses from Afghanistan."

Above: Photograph by Gali Weiss.

To view individual artist's books go to:
www.galiweiss.com/collaboration_unfolding.html