ARK Porto A School at the Edge of Nowhere
Chronicles of the Margins. Lesson #5
July
2021
Thu
8
ARK Porto A School at the Edge of Nowhere
Chronicles of the Margins*
Lesson #5
Rebecca and Yasmine Moradalizadeh, Mapa Sahari-Rozeh-Iftar: Comunidade Islâmica do Porto
Today started with a field trip to one of the city’s two mosques, the Islamic Cultural Centre of Porto, located at Rua do Heroísmo, where we had a first encounter with Islam and were led through the steps and worship spaces of this religion, which are mostly reserved for men, although curiously enough the group consisted predominantly of women. We got here thanks to Rebecca and Yasmine Moradalizadeh, two Portuguese-Iranian sisters and visual artists whose work (for some years now in the case of Rebecca, and more recently in the case of Yasmine) is closely linked to their family history, which crosses Portugal, the United Kingdom and Iran. They propose to map the presence of the Islamic community in the city of Porto, in order to contribute to cease its invisibility and to demystify preconceptions commonly associated with it.
They set a course between Campanhã and Batalha, two crucial points as far as the moving and living of this community are concerned, where one’s senses, when attentive, are easily led by the somewhat concealed or camouflaged aromas and colours of the ingredients, the musicality, the words and the description of the Muslim presence. Rebecca and Yasmine’s map tells us about this synaesthesia that is ingrained in the city, but also foreign to it: a culture that is part of Porto, that is embedded in it, even if it hides from it and if the city seems to rather keep it hidden.
The day started in the morning, at the mosque, with an intense, physical contact with Islam’s place of worship in Porto. A member of the board of the Islamic Cultural Centre of Porto, Mahmoud Soares, told us about the history of the religion. In the afternoon, Rebecca and Yasmine gave as a lesson in Muslim history and culture. They crossed centuries, countries, ethnicities, and families (starting with their own), and shared personal experiences (including xenophobic ones, which are typical but particularly inconceivable for someone standing between two cultures and wishing to build bridges, since they feel like one). The cartography they established revolves around the Batalha-Campanhã axis, over which they drew a line based on Iranian embroidery (pateh), which passes on from mother to daughter. It gave way to plenty of opportunities to discuss feminisms in the class, and feminisms in the scope of religion, with the cartographers showing unique sensitivity, both inclusive and divisive. Assumed as an ongoing artistic project, this mapping and the ways in which it is presented shall evolve alongside Rebecca and Yasmine’s research and practice. At this stage, their cultural plunge led them, for instance, to undergo Ramadan for the first time (between April 12 and May 12 of this year), and to have to deal with the hardships of being limited to a first nutritious meal before sunrise (sahari) and to water and dates to break fasting after sundown (iftar).
In a generous and sharing gesture, the students in the class had the privilege of taking home flavours from Iran, only because the pandemic won’t allow for socialisation. Just as Rebecca had been doing before being halted by the current antisocial framework, which was to share Iranian culinary experiences in performing events, the participants were treated to a show cooking (with Yasmine assisting this time) and allowed to take the outcome home.
*Chronicles of the Margins - Gisela Leal, The Chronicler of the Margins, will follow the trans/cross-border expeditions of ARK Porto A School at the Edge of Nowhere, mapping the coordinates and identifying the territories explored by the “new cartographers” of the city in this open-air classroom. She summarised the covered contents on a daily basis.
Chronicles of the Margins*
Lesson #5
Rebecca and Yasmine Moradalizadeh, Mapa Sahari-Rozeh-Iftar: Comunidade Islâmica do Porto
By Gisela Leal
Today started with a field trip to one of the city’s two mosques, the Islamic Cultural Centre of Porto, located at Rua do Heroísmo, where we had a first encounter with Islam and were led through the steps and worship spaces of this religion, which are mostly reserved for men, although curiously enough the group consisted predominantly of women. We got here thanks to Rebecca and Yasmine Moradalizadeh, two Portuguese-Iranian sisters and visual artists whose work (for some years now in the case of Rebecca, and more recently in the case of Yasmine) is closely linked to their family history, which crosses Portugal, the United Kingdom and Iran. They propose to map the presence of the Islamic community in the city of Porto, in order to contribute to cease its invisibility and to demystify preconceptions commonly associated with it.
They set a course between Campanhã and Batalha, two crucial points as far as the moving and living of this community are concerned, where one’s senses, when attentive, are easily led by the somewhat concealed or camouflaged aromas and colours of the ingredients, the musicality, the words and the description of the Muslim presence. Rebecca and Yasmine’s map tells us about this synaesthesia that is ingrained in the city, but also foreign to it: a culture that is part of Porto, that is embedded in it, even if it hides from it and if the city seems to rather keep it hidden.
The day started in the morning, at the mosque, with an intense, physical contact with Islam’s place of worship in Porto. A member of the board of the Islamic Cultural Centre of Porto, Mahmoud Soares, told us about the history of the religion. In the afternoon, Rebecca and Yasmine gave as a lesson in Muslim history and culture. They crossed centuries, countries, ethnicities, and families (starting with their own), and shared personal experiences (including xenophobic ones, which are typical but particularly inconceivable for someone standing between two cultures and wishing to build bridges, since they feel like one). The cartography they established revolves around the Batalha-Campanhã axis, over which they drew a line based on Iranian embroidery (pateh), which passes on from mother to daughter. It gave way to plenty of opportunities to discuss feminisms in the class, and feminisms in the scope of religion, with the cartographers showing unique sensitivity, both inclusive and divisive. Assumed as an ongoing artistic project, this mapping and the ways in which it is presented shall evolve alongside Rebecca and Yasmine’s research and practice. At this stage, their cultural plunge led them, for instance, to undergo Ramadan for the first time (between April 12 and May 12 of this year), and to have to deal with the hardships of being limited to a first nutritious meal before sunrise (sahari) and to water and dates to break fasting after sundown (iftar).
In a generous and sharing gesture, the students in the class had the privilege of taking home flavours from Iran, only because the pandemic won’t allow for socialisation. Just as Rebecca had been doing before being halted by the current antisocial framework, which was to share Iranian culinary experiences in performing events, the participants were treated to a show cooking (with Yasmine assisting this time) and allowed to take the outcome home.
*Chronicles of the Margins - Gisela Leal, The Chronicler of the Margins, will follow the trans/cross-border expeditions of ARK Porto A School at the Edge of Nowhere, mapping the coordinates and identifying the territories explored by the “new cartographers” of the city in this open-air classroom. She summarised the covered contents on a daily basis.
© José Caldeira / TMP
© José Caldeira / TMP
© José Caldeira / TMP
