The following events took place during the live exhibition public programme from May 12 to June 4 2022. You can view and listen to the recorded events on this website here.
Exhibition Events
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Exhibition Opening Night
Thursday 12 May, 18:00 to 21:00 BST.
Location: P21 Gallery
P21 Gallery is proud to present Kalila wa Dimna: Ancient Tales for Troubled Times, a collaborative art exhibition and events programme that brings together academic researchers, artists, curators, and community organizations. The project is inspired by the global journeys of Kalila wa Dimna, an ancient collection of moral fables that travelled across time and space, language, religion and culture. Six artists and two community organisations will become hakawatis or ‘tellers of tales’ and reinterpret Kalila wa Dimna chapter ‘Tale of the Four Friends’ to address pressing social, cultural and political issues of our times.
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Weaving Ancient Tales, Textile Workshop
Saturday 14 May, 12:00 to 16:00 BST
Location: P21 Gallery
Have you ever wanted to learn how to embroider? Or to explore textile arts from around the world?
Join East London Textile Arts for an embroidery workshop at P21 Gallery led by lead textile artist Sonia Tuttiett, inspired by the exhibition Kalila wa Dimna: Ancient Fables for Troubled Times and the high quality embroidery projects done by ELTA over the years.
Take home a finished piece or finish it in your own time at home. Sonia will provide stitch guides and a design drawn out on fabric.
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Live calligrafitti performance with artist DemaOne
Saturday 14 May, 14:00 to 17:00 BST
Location: P21 Gallery
Join international calligraffiti artist DemaOne for an interactive mural painting performance! Inspired from Arabic and English calligraphies and streets arts from the multiple cities visited by the artist.
The produced piece will be painted on the P21 Gallery’s gates and become a part of the Kalila wa Dimna: Ancient Tales for Troubled Times exhibition. While there you can check the work of DemaOne and the rest of the artists inside the gallery.
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Artists in Conversation: Reimagining spaces and restoring lost histories
Thursday 19 May, 18:30 to 20:00 BST.
Online via Zoom
Join three artists from the exhibition Kalila wa Dimna: Ancient Tales for Troubled Times in discussion: Rayan Elnayal, Jean Morris, and Vaishali Prazmari. Reflecting on their own heritages and research based creative processes, Rayan, Jean, and Vaishali will explore the ways in which their artistic and writing practices seek to restore ‘lost’ voices, languages and histories and to reimagine mobile spaces and places, at the boundaries of diverse cultures.
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Kalila wa Dimna on a multilingual Treasure Hunt! Outdoor Translation Games
Saturday 21 May 11:00 to 12:00 or 14:00 to 15:00 BST
Meeting Point: King’s Cross, London
Are you curious and adventurous? Do you like puzzles and playing with words? Are you interested in translation and discovering multiple languages in a fun setting?
If so, then join literary translator and writer Rosalind Harvey on an outdoor multilingual treasure hunt inspired by the Kalila wa Dimna fables - a game which explores the ways translation and languages connect people and cultures around the world.
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Artists in Conversation: Threading Stories of Friendship in Textile Art
Thursday 26 May, 18:30 to 20:00 BST
Online via Zoom
Join textile artist Alice Kettle and members of East London Textile Arts (ELTA), artist and founder of ELTA Celia Ward and lead textile artist Sonia Tuttiett, for a conversation about the enabling dimensions of collaborative textile work within different contexts, such as teaching settings, within local councils, and with adults with varying abilities.
Alice, Celia and Sonia Tuttiett, will shed light on the participants' different yet intersecting processes of textile work, exploring the role of stitching in strengthening human connection and fragile relationships in the often alienating urban settings.
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Researchers in Conversation: East/West encounters in early literature
Friday 27 May, 18:30-20:00 BST
Online via Zoom
Join researchers Dr Shazia Jagot and Dr David Torollo for an exploration of cross-cultural encounters in the medieval world, chaired by Dr Rachel Scott.
Addressing key themes of the exhibition, Kalila wa-Dimna: Ancient Tales for Troubled Times, Shazia, David, and Rachel bring their expertise in global medieval cultures to this discussion of early literatures, objects, and ideas that traveled between East and West. Focusing on three ‘objects’, the discussion explores the interconnectedness of societies across time and space, and also considers the relevance of early literatures and cultures in today’s multicultural world.
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Fun, hands-on children's textile workshop
Saturday 28 May
Location: P21 Gallery
Book on one of four sessions: -Session 1: 12:00 to 13:00 - Session 2: 13:00 to 14:00 -Session 3: 14:00 to 15:00 - Session 4: 15:00 to 16:00 BST
Join lead textile artist Sonia Tuttiett for a fun, hands-on textile workshop as a family or group of friends. Explore themes of friendship and community, get to know the story of 'The Four Friends' from the ancient fables of Kalila wa Dimna, and get creative by designing and decorating your own felt Friendship Figure to take home.
In the workshop children will be introduced to simple embroidery stitches and fabric paints. They will also get the chance to view the textile work of other children showcased at Kalila wa Dimna: Ancient Tales for Troubled Times exhibition.
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An Introduction to Miniature Painting: A Demonstration
Monday 6 June, 19:00 to 20:00 BST
Online via Zoom
Watch artist Vaishali Prazmari demonstrate the techniques of miniature manuscript painting. In the one-hour online session, the artist will take you through the process of transferring an image, inking in the lines, colour filling, rendering/shading and painting the final outlines with tiny brushes. The Kalila wa Dimna fables were famously illustrated by miniature painters across different dynasties and the artist chose the miniature format for her displayed work at Kalila wa Dimna: Ancient Tales for Troubled Times exhibition. Vaishali will demonstrate the different painting stages by working on a variety of different artworks and you will get to see a number of different painting types and styles.
Vaishali teaches this unique and specialist art form at: https://www.vaishaliprazmariteaching.com
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Storytelling in a digital age: experimenting with illustration & filmmaking to tell short stories
Tuesday June 7, 18:00 to 21:00 BST.
Location: P21 Gallery
Join visual artist and illustrator Dima Nachawi and filmmaker and editor Ali J.Dalloul for an exciting workshop about ways of storytelling in a digital age, in this case through illustrated animation. You are invited to take part in a collaborative exercise: the making of a short film based on one of Kalila wa Dimna’s tales. During the workshop you will get to experiment with a mixture of accessible audio-visual elements with Dima and Ali’s support and expertise.
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Artists in Conversation: Art practice in challenging environments
Wednesday 8 June, 18:30 to 20:00 BST
Online via Zoom
In Kalila wa Dimna: Ancient Tales for Troubled Times, the long travelling famous fables of Kalila wa Dimna, which have been translated into more than 40 languages, are brought to life in an exhibition that addresses some of the important social, cultural, and political issues of our time. Amidst global social and political instability and natural calamities, art for art’s sake is no longer enough for many socially engaged artists, especially those living or working in challenging environments.
In this online talk artists Dima Nachawi, Ali J. Dalloul, DemaOne and Alyson Frazier, the founder of Play for Progress, a Croydon based charity, discuss collaborative art practices in challenging environments.