The rhetoric around feminism often focuses on the achievement of individual women, justifying equality with men through the accomplishments of a small number of talented women.

This celebration of individual breakthroughs leaves little space in which to acknowledge the value of women going about their daily lives. Women make up half of the world’s population; their struggles are the world’s struggles. The Ordinary Lives of Women is a recognition of the value of everyday women, and women’s contribution to humanity. It acknowledges the trillions of woman-hours that are spent daily around the world in undervalued tasks of cleaning, caring and maintenance. The exhibition also recognises that ‘ordinary’ women have been pushed to extraordinary acts when their rights and lives – and those of their societies – have come under threat. When circumstances dictate, women emerge from their traditional domestic roles to adopt a revolutionary stance.

Programme of Events:

Laugh and Protest | Fatima Mazmouz in Conversation with Elise Billiard Pisani
Date and Time: Friday 28th January 2022, 7pm
Venue: Space A, Spazju Kreattiv, Valletta

The French Moroccan artist will discuss her practice, which revolves around the resistance and combat of women being mothers or sex workers. With humour, burlesque, and absurdity she reflects on our modes of representation legitimating the numerous abuses imposed on female bodies, and at the same time plays with the stereotypes and diktats of our consumerist societies. Through her work, Fatima Mazmouz also analyses the mechanisms at the heart of the ‘colonial body’, revealing, challenging and repairing memory and accepted historical fact.

The discussion may include some adult themes which might not be suitable for younger audiences.
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Place Matter(s): Workshop with Florinda Camilleri & Abigail Agius
Date and Time: Tuesday 22nd February 2022, 6:30pm
Venue: Studio A, Spazju Kreattiv, Valletta

How might we discover new ways of relating with a symbolic space and all its matter(s)? Abigail Agius and Florinda Camilleri address this question through a studio sharing of their research project, showing the video work made during the process, and sharing information gathered through interdisciplinary research in Castille Square between November 2021 and January 2022. At the core of this process lies their desire to discover alternate narratives and joyful histories within Castille Square.

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Kaspale’s Playground: Performance by Syowia Kyambi
Date and Time: Saturday 26th February 2022, 7pm
Venue: Space A, Spazju Kreattiv, Valletta
Seating: Cushions (on the floor)

Kaspale’s Playground revisits Kenya’s recent history, bringing to the fore the many layers of violence that underpinned former President Daniel Toroitich Arap Moi’s 24-year rule. The work claims both the remembering and the telling of this history in ways that are not mediated by a supposed shared national memory.
This installation-performance may include some adult themes which might not be suitable for younger audiences.

Register Here

Curators
Elise Billiard Pisani & Margerita Pulè

Artists
Florinda Camilleri, Abigail Agius, Charlie Cauchi, Edith Dekyndt, Katel Delia, Rachel Fallon, Syowia Kyambi, Julieta Gil, Fatima Mazmouz & Francesca Saraullo

Exhibition Design & Project Management
Noura Abdelhafidh

Film Programme
Nicole Bearman

Catalogue Editor
Ann Dingli

Collaborators
Unfinished Art Space, Brazza Art Residency, Art+Feminism & Wikimedia Community Malta

Supported by
APS Bank, Arts Council Malta, Melita Foundation, Embassy of France in Malta & Embassy of Ireland in Malta