Extended opening announced.

A quick update to say that the Different Moons exhibition at the Whitaker Museum & Art Gallery in Rawtenstall has had its stay extended. Instead of closing on the 29th December it will now stay open another two weeks - closing on the 12th January 2015. Check the Christmas opening times before visiting over the holidays. 

One week to go...

The calligraphic piece I wrote about a couple blogs back is now on display in The Whitaker Museum & Art Gallery in Rawtenstall. The piece is by Omani master calligrapher Hst Al-Awaidi and is now being shown in the top corridor of the Museum, leading to the exhibition galleries. 

There's now just over week left before the Different Moons exhibition gets taken down, so rush along if you haven't yet seen it - and don't forget to pick up a copy of the free accompanying brochure about Rossendale's South Asian communities and containing a handful of stunning poems written by women from Haslingden.

The Different Moons exhibition

I went to visit Mr Aslom Miah today. Mr Miah is one of the people we've interviewed for the project. Extracts from his interview - and a short and funny animation by Rehmat Gangreker based on one his stories - can be seen and heard at the Whitaker exhibition. 

I had wondered if Mr Miah, who must now be approaching 80, had actually managed to get to see the show - which although it's in Rawtenstall, not far from his house, is an uphill walk all the way. But I shouldn't have doubted - he had been to see it with a group from his family, and was very excited about the show. He said that his son had stayed for over 3 hours. He was also full of how well he had been treated by the staff at the museum - and the quality of the food in their cafe! Another reason to go - quite apart from the fact that the exhibition is only open for two further weeks after this. 

Looking through the blog I realised that there's not that many photos from the exhibition itself, so I thought I should add a few here to give a taste:

An unexpected legacy

Yesterday was very special - all the more so because it was all unexpected. 

Arry Nessa, who originally came to the Different Moons project as a volunteer, is now an important member of our team. Last week Arry went with Maryam Golubeva, the paper-cut artist who has made such a contribution to the Different Moons exhibition, to an exhibition of calligraphy at Old Trafford in Manchester, to celebrate Omani National Day. Calligraphy has a lot in common with Maryam's paper-cutting, and in our exhibition we bring together the two things - in fact three, because we combine it with poetry.

At the Manchester exhibition Arry and Maryam met calligrapher Hst Al-Awaidi. Awaidi is from Muscat in Oman and is an aeronautical engineer, but he studied in Liverpool and established the Liverpool Arabic Calligraphy Association. He is a master calligrapher and Arry asked him to visit the Different Moons exhibition before he returns home to Oman, and yesterday Awaidi did just that. 

But what was unexpected was that Awaidi brought along the original of a recent piece of work. The photograph above hardly gives credit to the detail and subtlety of the calligraphy that took 4 months work. The text consists of verses from the Quran, and the whole, both in design and content, explores and describes Awaidi's inner struggles. 

After visiting the exhibition he offered to donate the piece and asked me where I would suggest it was placed - somewhere that people could see and enjoy it. I suggested the Whitaker itself as the obvious place, because both the Different Moons team and the museum have been wondering how we could leave a legacy after the exhibition, which has been so popular with the South Asian communities in Rossendale. 

Awaidi was very keen on the idea and within minutes signed over the piece to an initial 10 month loan to the Whitaker. It's now at the Whitaker, and we hope that it encourages visitors to visit even once the exhibition closes.

The Bazaar II

The Different Moons Bazaar was an enormous success; from midday until 3.30pm the Whitaker Museum was packed with people, in the main people from our South Asian community. The stalls sold really well - the food ran out shortly after 3pm - and the excitement and enjoyment of the music, the stalls, the poetry and the exhibition was palpable.

The exhibition continues of course, and it is being very well received. Here are a few comments left by visitors: 

The Bazaar

After the Different Moons exhibition being open for best part of a week, we're preparing for the Bazaar on Saturday (22nd), again at the Whitaker in Rawtenstall. 

Look out for Asian crafts, and henna-painting, live music, bookstalls, saree stalls and Asian food. We'll also have, later in the day, live music from Chris Davies and Olivia Moore. There will be a free taxi/bus service from Haslingden Community Link to The Whitaker each hour on the half-hour.

It's been such a successful first week that you should meet the great team of people who have made it happen:

Above, from the left, is Shamshad Khan - the Project leader, Maryam Golubeva who is responsible for the wonderful paper-cuts and the Moon Book and who helped Shamshad on some of the many workshops she organised and lead in Haslingden; then there's Arry Nessa who came along initially as a volunteer but is now an indispensable member of the team organising the Different Moons Festival of activities.

Above there's another key member of the group - Habiba Shenza, the Project Support Artist, and she's standing next to her beautiful panel made up of mehndi, or henna, images. Habiba has also been great link with the community in Haslingden. I'm on her left - Bob Frith, the Artistic Director of the project.

Finally here's Phil Milston who has been responsible for making the Fountain, and supporting me in the technical work that's central to the project. Of course we're the most visible part of the team, but there's a whole group - mainly at Horse + Bamboo - who  are supporting us too, as well as the team at the Whitaker offering us their help for the exhibition. 

Our Opening Weekend

Mr Mazhar Hussain, one of the very first people to emigrate to Lancashire from South Asia, shows Lizzie Lempen (of Lempen Puppets) where his family originated on a map from the first of the boards in the explanatory section of Different Moons.

The exhibition opened Saturday 15th November at the Whitaker Museum & Art Gallery in Rawtenstall and the galleries were packed all day long with visitors, including many from the local South Asian communities. The reactions have been unanimously positive, with many people spending a long time to take in the animated films, listen to the recordings we've made of people reminiscing about their journeys from Pakistan or Bangladesh to Rossendale, or read the poetry inspired by these stories. 

On Sunday we had a Bengali storyteller, Saikat Ahamed, at the Boo to tell the story of his mother and the traumatic period when West and East Pakistan tore apart and the new nation of Bangladesh was formed, in his show 'The Tiger and the Moustache'. It was well attended afternoon, and a brilliant tour-de-force of a performance by Saikat. A memorable opening weekend to the exhibition that runs until the end of December. 

Scrolling text

Today was our first day day hanging the show in the Whitaker Museum and Art Gallery in Rawtenstall. Things went slowly, with a number of unexpected hitches slowing our progress. Still, Phil got the fountain basin in situ, and I erected the listening booth structure, where visitors will be able to listen to extracts from some of the interviews we've had with older immigrants to Rossendale, both from Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Throughout the project we've been at pains to include mother tongues within the interviews - and in the poetry and other creative writing done in response. There majority of the recordings are in English, but we're also including Pashto, Sylheti, Urdu, Punjabi and Bengali. One or two of the interviews selected for the listening spots are in Urdu and Pashto. 

Accuracy of translation and transcription has been a constant issue for us, but we've been lucky in having helpers in the process. In the exhibition there's a new problem - we're projecting some of the sayings and proverbs that we've learned from the interviewees (see the example above). These are being projected onto the gallery walls, and the sayings appear as scrolled words moving across the surface of the walls. The 'problem' is that some languages read from left to right, such as English and Bengali; other read right to left - Urdu and Punjabi, for example. We've solved this by the simple device of changing the direction of the scrolling depending on the language.

Final preparations for the Whitaker

It's just a week now before we move into the Whitaker to set up the Different Moons exhibition. So it's a busy period as you can imagine...here at the Boo we're finishing the fountain (above), the lanterns, the audio tracks and the animated films. Elsewhere Maryam has Shamshad's poems and is creating the 'moon-book' which will have 69 (at last count) poems from the various workshops, and creating her own paper-cut piece based on Samina's poem. Habiba has completed her large 5-panel mehndi image, and that's at the printers with all of the other information panels. 

Of course at the end of next week we're having the Opening Day - Saturday 15th - at the Whitaker, and everyone is invited along. There will be special food and live music for the occasion, and Shamshad and I will be around all day - hopefully Habiba, Arry and Maryam will also make an appearance.

Lanterns and fountains

There's suddenly a real sense of urgency - it's not long now before the exhibition opens. I'm working on making the four lanterns (above) for the Fountain Room. Shamshad is collating all the written work that has been produced during the various workshops in Haslingden - in English, Urdu and Bengali; Habiba is working on the five-panel mehndi (henna) artwork, and Arry is completing the transcriptions of our recent interviews with older members of the local South Asian community. 

Phil is continuing with his work on the fountain itself. The tiles have arrived and the long  (and enjoyable, he says) process of tiling has begun. Meanwhile final proof-reading is taking place and the posters, banners and various advertising of the event will be beginning to go out over the next week. Look out for it!

The Different Moons Festival: Events.

Please note that the exhibition now finishes on Sunday 28th December.

Opens four weeks today!

Full Moon

Preparing the artwork that's going to make up the Different Moons exhibition at the Whitaker (which opens in just over months time) is now everyone's priority. A lot of this is simply designing the information boards and the graphic displays along with the catalogue. But there's also a more creative side to it. The poems written by the women as part of their group with Shamshad Khan, and work of the various young people's groups, are being collated. Maryam Golubeva is working on the paper-cutting. Meanwhile Habiba Shenza is making a five-panel image based on photographs of her mehndi (henna) work.

Today she decorated her mother's hands so, when brought together, they create the image of a full moon. I went along to photograph this - and the photographs that Habiba will use in her finished panels; the full-moon being the larger central panel of the five.

Open Day at the Boo

Arry Nessa with Maryam Golubeva's paper-cut 'storytelling carpet'.

The open day on Sunday at the Boo (our base in Waterfoot, Rossendale) attracted over 150 visitors, and among the many things going on was an exhibition about the Different Moons project - with the highlight probably being the work-in-progress on the fountain. 

There was a lot of interest in the project, with a heartening amount of understanding from our visitors about the aims and objectives of our work, which bodes well for the Whitaker exhibition opening in mid-November. 

The days before Eid

In the days leading up to Eid we've been working hard on Different Moons. Preparations for the exhibition at the Whitaker are well under way. The opening may be over 6 weeks away but with printers deadlines looming up the designs for information boards and other things are only a few weeks' away. We're having meetings about the mushaira and the mela to be held at Haslingden Community Link too, planning seating and stall arrangements...

Today we recorded Mr Ullah, originally from Bangladesh but living in Rawtenstall since 1964. We heard many fascinating stories of Mr Ullah's early years in the Valley; sometimes funny, sometimes tragic and moving. Mr Ullah showed us the seaman's documents (above) left by his late father - a record going back to 1918 of his time at sea as a 'lascar', until he jumped ship in Liverpool during the 1950s and eventually made his way to Rawtenstall. 

So with Eid al-Adha this weekend there's a brief period of rest for Different Moons before we start the run up to the opening of the exhibition on 15th November. Eid Mubarak!

Reel Around the Fountain!

Phil Milston is making progress with the fountain - yesterday he trialled putting lights into the lower star-shaped wall. This is going to be one of the centre-pieces for the Whitaker exhibition, which opens on November 15th. 

Remember we've got a stall at Haslingden Street Fair tomorrow. Please come along and say hello...

The Moon and Glass Bangle

I've been extremely impressed by the process of preparing to include a poem in a paper-cut  art work being created by Maryam Golubeva for the Different Moons exhibition. 

We've taken part of a poem written by Samina Raffat Hussain. Six couplets from a poem called 'Moon and Glass Bangle'. As Shamshad Khan describes it "it is about how a woman is not like the moon but is able to be held/grasped, strong and delicate like glass bangles". 

Samina is a local woman, a broadcaster and writer, and she is one of the people we have interviewed and recorded for the Different Moons archive. Maryam only requires a short piece for her paper cut, hence the decision to select just a small part of a longer poem. 

The selected section was then translated into Urdu by Shakil Salam. One of his versions is shown above. To me it looks very beautiful. This script lends itself to paper-cutting, like Arabic, and far more than English would do. 

Working on the fountain

Yesterday I travelled back after a couple of weeks holiday in France. On the train I suddenly became very aware that the Different Moons exhibition at the Whitaker, which seemed ages away when I left, is now going to open in only 8 or 9 weeks time! I checked my diary and reminded myself that work on the fountain, which is one of the larger elements that go to make up the exhibition, should start next week. Time enough, but tight in my estimation...especially when there's so much else to be done.

Today I'm back in the Horse + Bamboo workshop and find that Phil Milston has made amazing progress already! The fountain 'pool' area has been made, and we've had the decorative side panels laser cut to his design. Phil is now busy assembling the structure - and it's already beginning to look very special indeed. 

I'm now going through the 700 plus emails in my in-tray. Most - of course - are destined for the Trash folder, but there are plenty from Shamshad Khan who has been working with Habiba Shenza on workshops for the Girls Group led by Lisa Amin on Saturday mornings at Haslingden Library. Plenty of planning work has also been done on sorting a poem for the paper-cuts by Maryam Golbeva, as well as the next round of workshops at the Supplementary School. 

So, all in all, a very pleasant welcome for me after a great break. 

Samina Hussain

Yesterday we interviewed Samina Hussain about her life and work for the Different Moons archive. Samina was born in Karachi, and had been an air-stewardess with Pakistan International Airlines when she came to England, having married Mazhar Hussain in the early 1980s. 

Samina was surprised to find that, when she first arrived in Rossendale, the Asian women she met in Haslingden 'stayed in the house' and there were no opportunities for them to participate in social gatherings. She went about changing this; starting by organising an Eid get-together for women and their children. This was very successful and went on to develop into regular events including mushiara, poetry meetings that brought important poets to Haslingden - meetings that often went on late into the night, and encouraged local women to take up writing for themselves.

Samina is passionate about her community, particularly the potential for the women of her community. She has won awards, has worked as a JP, a college lecturer, and writes under the pen-name Riffat. She read one of her Urdu poems and another of her written pieces for our archive recording. She now works as a broadcaster for Asian Radio. 

Above Shamshad Khan (in red) and Habiba Shenza interview Samina.