Nailing Remembrance
Poetry film by Jutta Pryor of Farkhonda Akbar's poem 'Nailing Remembrance', originally commissioned as a sound poem by Multicultural Arts Victoria.
In 2014 Multicultural Arts Victoria commissioned poet Farkhonda Akbar Tufaan and myself for a spoken word sound piece for the Visible album series. Featuring Vinod Prasanna on flute and Aryan Aman Kalyan on tabla. The piece was performed at the Melbourne Festival that year.
Filmmaker Jutta Pryor has 'completed' this work in 2018 by making it into a film, in a serendipitous collaboration between three artists, working together to reveal and conceal the meaning behind this powerful poem.
Hazara poet and cultural activist Farkhonda Akbar writes abstract text writing inspired by her historical wounds and dark experiences as a young Hazara girl. Having completed an undergrad and postgrad in International Relations and undertaking two internships at the UN Headquarters in NY, Farkhonda is dedicated to representing Hazara people worldwide and ensuring peace in her homeland Afghanistan. She is passionate about ensuring the Hazara Diaspora in Melbourne reconnect with culture in their new homelands, running Hazaragi poetry workshops with young people and women in the community. Farkhonda is currently studying for PhD in International Relations and diplomacy.
Farkhonda Akbar:
"It was midnight in Melbourne when I wrote Nailing Remembrance after feeling a cold fire burning in me. I had just finished reading about the journey of a girl from my valley in Afghanistan in the late 1800s. A princess turned into a slave, she was elegant and in-love, layered and lonely, resilient and secretive. Besides the brutal political context of the time and her painful destiny, this poem is capturing her layers of inner feelings, sense of loss, vibrant and violent moments of the time and the strength in her struggle. Nailing Remembrance is a window into the museum of a forcefully forgotten self."
In June 2018 "Nailing Remembrance" screens at S Y N | Cymatic Environment© by Anna Stereopoulou w/ 20Y female:pressure Anniversary Event @ Beton 7 - Arts, Athens.
