Adult Bread and Art Workshop – Rising, Together
18 May, 10am–3pm
Join artist Issam Kourbaj for a workshop to explore the practice of bread-making. We will open a reflective and discursive space to knead and fold in embodied memories and inherited tales around bread. The Arabic word for bread is ‘Aish’, which also means ‘life’ and ‘to live’. These will be key themes that we explore in this workshop.
During the session participants will:
- Enjoy an introduction to Issam Kourbaj: Urgent Archive, the current exhibition at Kettle’s Yard with artist Issam Kourbaj
- Create a bread stamp with artist Issam Kourbaj
- Use your stamp to emboss and make flat-breads with local baker Alison McTaggart of BreadonaBike
- Share your own bread recipes and their significance with other participants
- Come together to reflect on the memories and tales embedded in bread
Delivered in partnership with the Syrian Arts & Cultural Festival.
Allergen advice: This workshop will be using wholegrain flours and therefore not suitable for people with gluten allergies.
About Syrian Arts and Culture Festival
Syrian Arts and Culture Festival (SACF) is a multidisciplinary arts festival showcasing Syria’s vibrant arts and culture. Their curated multi-disciplinary programme of events offers a creative collison of film, music, performance, visual arts and talks. The Festival brings together established alongside emerging artists, filmmakers, performers, and musicians to offer London audiences alternative narratives and perspectives on Syria, its people, and culture.
About Issam Kourbaj
Issam Kourbaj was born in Syria and trained at the Institute of Fine Arts in Damascus, the Repin Institute of Fine Arts & Architecture in Leningrad (St Petersburg) and at Wimbledon School of Art. Since 1990, he has lived and worked in Cambridge, where he has been artist-in-residence, a Bye-Fellow and a lector in Art, at Christ’s College.
Since 2011 his artwork has related to the Syrian Crisis and reflects on the suffering of his fellow Syrians and the destruction of his cultural heritage.
His work has been widely exhibited and collected, and most recently it was featured in several museums and galleries around the world: The Fitzwilliam Museum, the Museum of Classical Archaeology, Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge; the British Museum and the V&A, London; Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam; Penn Museum, Philadelphia; Brooklyn Museum, New York; the 2019 Venice Biennale and the Henry Moore Institute, Leeds.
Dark Water, Burning World is in the permanent collection of the Pergamonmuseu, Berlin, and the British Museum. For the BBC’s ‘A History of the World in 100 Objects,’ Neil MacGregor (the former Director of the British Museum) chose Dark Water, Burning World as the 101st object.
About Issam Kourbaj: Urgent Archive
Since 2011 Issam Kourbaj’s artwork has responded to the ongoing conflict in Syria, and reflects on the suffering of his fellow Syrians and the destruction of his cultural heritage. This exhibition presents key works from this period alongside a new series which explores themes of loss, memory and renewal.
The exhibition – the artist’s largest to date – will include installation, sculpture, performance and works on paper. Kourbaj will be present at intervals throughout the exhibition, which will evolve as he adds to the displays.
Access
The Clore Learning Studio is fully accessible. It can be reached by stairs or by lift, to the basement -1 floor. There is an accessible toilet with baby changing facilities in the basement beside the Learning Studio. There are more toilets and facilities on the ground and first floors.
