In the West, when we talk about healing, we often talk of a mending act: fragmented to complete, broken to fixed, unhealthy to healthy. In other words, healing as repairing expects transformation, one that capitalism reduces to an easy-to-digest ritual: all-inclusive Ayahuasca trips, bare yoga routines, and instagrammable self-care: healing as a clear and clean process, so to say. And within reach for everyone – as long as one’s wallet allows it.

In the exhibition Nane Limon Kabuğu, curator Berksun Çiçek shows that healing isn’t a one-size-fits-all matter. Through a combination of contemporary issues surrounding ancestry, and reclaiming practical and cultural rituals, she starts a conversation on the meaning of the word healing. Beyond the commercialization of it, there’s a realm of personal stories and experiences that incorporate native knowledge. But where does one start if the path towards healing looks different for each and every one of us? How can you find what works for you and what doesn’t? In short: what can healing look like?

For the next two months, this conversation will take place in the community space at the core of the exhibition. It’s precisely here, in the exchange of unique and personal stories, that we can find resemblances. By sharing and studying these experiences and practical wisdoms on healing, we can create an archive of memories and feelings: healing as an intuitive and messy process without a clear beginning or end and with as many variations as there are people.

Programme image by Cengiz Mengüç 

Berksun Çiçek (1997) is a Rotterdam-based community organizer, curator, and artist. Through documenting and archiving recipes, traditions, and rituals from her Turkish family and heritage, she discovered her personal healing practice. These stories seep deep into the exhibition, where she creates a community center as a living installation for the exchange of experiences on healing. Çiçek co-founded KLAUW collective, for which she organized community-based events throughout the city until 2022, and is currently graduating from Willem de Kooning Academy.

 

Hasret Emine  (b. 1992) is a writer, artist, historian and astrologer from Turkey, based in Rotterdam. They like to change their mind and challenge the capitalist status quo.

Serenity Department (Amy Suo Wu & Maria Ling Qing Huang) is a diasporic love letter exploring how to care from afar through practices of mending and remittance. It is a collaborative, intergenerational mending project between mother, Maria Ling Qing Huang, who lives on Gadigal land (Sydney), and daughter, Amy Suo Wu, in Rotterdam.

Jaasir Linger (Zoetermeer, The Netherlands, 1991) is a visual artist with Surinamese roots, based in Rotterdam. Based on research into his Surinamese roots, the traditional Afro-Surinamese religion Winti and the history between The Netherlands and Suriname, he develops ideas that he translates into installation artworks. Linger’s works have been exhibited in, among others, Museum Het Rembrandthuis, Amsterdam Museum, Het Nieuwe Instituut, The Black Archives, Völkerkundemuseum Herrnhut, Bijbels Museum and Documenta 15.

Gail Levis (House of Vibrations), sonic sound alchemist, is a spiritual creative, specializing in somatic sound therapy, also known as sound healing. Through research and life experiences, she is convinced that using sound as medicine can help people release stored emotions, gain greater clarity and insight into themselves, and enhance the body’s natural cycles. She is the founder of The House of Vibrations – a warm home for individuals seeking a holistic approach to their well-being.

ANALEMMA (Fazle Shairmahomed)

ANALEMMA
a decolonizing club dance ritual centering queer people of color

Analemma is a queer act to create rituals in a reality where people experience hybrid multicultural identities that came into being because of painful histories and realities of colonialism. This work is a performance ritual, workshop, and film installation. 

You are invited to think about the relationship with your ancestors. Together, we create a space of intimacy, even when we experience distance, through our personal histories and current realities which are filled with trauma, but also with a desire for healing and resilience. 

Inspired by Muslim/Sufi traditions of Gnawa, Zar, and whirling Dervish; Japanese Butoh, Surinamese Winti culture, Hindu rituals, Caribbean Bubbling, South African Gqom.

About HOME

HOME is the leitmotiv by which we encourage conversation about conceptions regarding belonging, representation and identification. HOME is a fundament, the place you return to and anchorpoint for the journey onward. HOME (offline as well as online) is the start of feeling connect to others. Under the name HOME we also present exhibitions in the showroom of MAMA. In collaboration with young makers we express interpretations about HOME | IN REAL LIFE | NETWORKS.

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