KABUL/ FORGETME(K)NOT exhibition Perugia Italy

• One-of-a-kind Artwork
• Year: 2023
• dimension: artwork- 40X40cm; frame- 43cm width/43cm height/3cm depth
• black golden box frame
• materials: Italian 100% silk organza and 100% silk black crashed chiffon; machine embroidery threads- ivory, golden and black metallic; black satin ribbon; leather like black paper; natural hair; Love hairpin; sewing needle; painting canvas with stretched primed Italian fabric (70% cotton and 30% synthetics) and a wedged wooden frame made of softwood lumber
  
• Technique:  digitally embroidered flowers and line work on silk organza; texture, imitating hair; two handkerchiefs of silk chiffon are made and knotted with a satin black ribbon; digitally embroidered words, cut out and hand sewn to the handkerchiefs, all sewn to a piece of leather like paper; natural hair, cut and glued to a piece of leather like paper
• style- abstract figurative, contemporary, 3D sculpture, design
  
• colors- black, beige, ivory, black metallic
  
• ships in a box; shipping included

Theme of the exhibition:

The project emphasizes the need to remember women who are victims of abuse, oppression, violence, and whose fundamental rights, such as the right to freedom of choice and expression, the right to education, the right to work - in any form - individual and collective - are denied anywhere in the world.

"KABUL" Synopsis: 

In August 2023 all beauty salons in Afghanistan were closed on Taliban orders. The ruling is the latest restriction on the rights and freedoms of Afghan women and girls following edicts barring them from education, public spaces and most forms of employment.  There was a rare public protest in which dozens of beauticians and makeup artists gathered in Kabul, but security forces broke up the protest using fire hoses and shooting guns into the air. Because of the ban, women not only are not getting their hair and nails done, but 60 000 women lost their jobs and one of the only places they could get support and feel part of community. (Based on ALJAZEERA)

Firstly, to make the artwork more authentic the author has invited the hair stylist Vassil Atanassov (Art Director of HCF & Loreal Professionnel Bulgaria) to introduce his interpretation of the theme. He used freshly cut hair from his hair salon as a juxtaposition of what the afghan women do not get anymore.

Secondly, as a fashion designer Dimana Nakova made her part of the project in the shape of a wedding gown, which texture resembles natural hair, as a symbol of the most inner and pure dream of a woman. Both parts- hair and a dress are covered with black fabric in order for the viewer to experience how afghan women see and perceive the world.Finally, the artwork extends the matter to a more global perspective, and namely to the interrelation between men and women in general. An expression of that is the fact that both, a fashion designer and a hair stylist, a woman and a man, have been working closely together on fashion shows, photo shoots and common clients for nearly twenty years. The needle with a knotted thread and the Love hairpin have been interchanged in order to show that we need to make attempts to understand each other and by means of “COMMUNICATION”, leading to “VOLUNTARINESS”, both catalyzed by love, we could built a more beautiful and fair world.