Manifesta purposely strives to keep its distance from what are often seen as the dominant centres of artistic production, instead seeking fresh and fertile terrain for the mapping of a new cultural topography.
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Šejla Kamerić, BA
Hooked, 2010 – ongoing, © Šejla Kamerić. Photo © Manifesta 14 Prishtina / Majlinda Hoxha.
In her conceptual practice, Šejla Kamerić examines the politics of memory, the language of oppression and forms of resistance. The large-scale crocheted works from her ongoing Hooked series are characteristic of this approach.
Resembling oversized doilies, they embody a chaste form of creativity and female servitude. Doilies are essential elements of traditional bridal dowries, whether from Bosnia, Kosovo, Albania or any number of countries across the region.
Draped across the space like cobwebs, they equally invoke the many weavers of mythology, their stories and acts of resistance: from Minerva, the Roman goddess of history, to Philomela, a woman who, having been raped and mutilated, seeks justice for the crimes committed against her.
As the classical poet Ovid describes in the Metamorphoses, although Philomela’s tongue is cut out to silence her, she denounces her torturer nonetheless: by weaving the letters of his name.