alto el foc

ganchisme x ziwadeh

It has been over a year since a ‘ceasefire’ was announced in Gaza, and yet the bombings, the lack of humanitarian aid and the destruction of life have not ceased. Here at La Escocesa, we say loud and clear: we do not normalise genocide, and we do not forget Gaza.

This new edition of Alto el Foc, in partnership with Sofia Archer and Samera Kadry, offers a space for us to come together to uphold memory and care. A place where conversation, our hands and food become forms of presence and resistance.
Ganchisme is a free, open space with no transactions, centred on mending clothes, patching, crocheting, knitting and sharing, as well as on gossip: speculation, rumours and other forms of oral resistance, with the aim of being actively present, here and now. It is a space of relational ecology as a place of struggle and thought, to sketch out and invoke new scenarios of what is possible.

Ziwadeh is an ongoing artistic research project in Palestine that explores how food carries memory, identity, care and a sense of belonging. It began with the meals that Palestinian workers bring from home to take to work and expanded to encompass the knowledge passed down through women’s daily labour, family kitchens and shared tables. Through encounters, conversations and documentation, the project views cooking and eating as ways of creating and maintaining a living archive.

Ganchisme X Ziwadeh invites us to gather round a table, to talk, embroider, eat and share as a group, whilst we continue to shout: Ceasefire! Free Palestine!

bios

Sofia Archer is a designer, patternmaker, and seamstress, and the founder of Sofia Archer Lab., a workshop dedicated to textile creation and experimentation. She organizes cultural and multidisciplinary events, workshops, and activities focused on responsible consumption, sustainability, and the repair of garments and textiles. Through her practice, she bridges the gap between visual arts and fashion from an anti-racist perspective, promoting political sustainability and critical thinking through her work.

Samera Ahmed Kadry is a Palestinian artist and theatre practitioner based in Haifa. Her work encompasses acting, assistant directing, stage and tour directing, and independent artistic research. She works with Khashabi Theatre on productions staged both locally and internationally. Her ongoing project, Ziwadeh, explores Palestinian food, women’s knowledge, labour and intergenerational memory through gatherings, documentation and collective practice.

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