INSTALLATION: 1 - 17 August 2024
OPENING TIMES: Thursday - Saturday, 10AM-6PM, or by appointment.
WHERE: Gallery 2
This sound installation by Jala Wahid takes place in Gallery 2, alongside the Imagining Otherwise exhibition. Initially shared as part of a listening event, this powerful audio piece remains in place for the remainder of the exhibition and transports listeners across time through the medium of Kurdish maqams.
Naphtha Maqam is an hour-long sound piece that weaves together the history and current politics of European and American oil imperialism in the region of Kurdistan and Iraq. It comprises a series of funereal maqams, melodically Kurdish, lyrically English and is constructed from poetic writing, material from the National Archives and British Petroleum Archives and includes elements such as Wahid’s own voice alongside recordings of oil drilling rigs.
Naphtha Maqam is written by Jala Wahid, performed by Amal Saeed Kurda and produced by Owen Pratt.
This challenging piece demands the audience’s attention and requires the audience to engage with empathy and to use their imagination to envisage times beyond our frame of reference. The hour-long piece is made up of different excerpts of Kurdish Maqams and revolves around the consequences of the British in Kurdistan and the unknown futures Kurdish people faced. Attendees can join and leave at any point, but we recommend you stay for the whole 1-hour piece.
Location: Gallery 2
Access: This installation will be held on the first floor which is not wheelchair accessible. We will make the audio piece available via headphones in the Reading Room. If you have access requirements that you'd like to discuss, or if there's anything we can do to make this event more accessible for you, please email admin@weareprimary.org.