Private View: House of Weaving Songs

dhaqan collective invites guests to step inside the House of Weaving Songs, an outdoor sanctuary inspired by the Aqal, a nomadic Somali home. 

Once inside, become enveloped by a series of beautiful woven tapestries that through touch ignite a sonic patchwork of stories and sounds of Somali women’s traditional weaving songs. 

Offering the space as a shelter to reflect on the significance of Somali culture and our collective climate anxieties, dhaqan collective will also invite visitors to add their own voice, connecting the city to ancestral cultural practices that are endangered.

The sound installation is part of the Playable Cities programme happening across Bristol this July 2023.

dhaqan collective is a Somali Feminist art collective led by Ayan Cilmi and Fozia Ismail. Their practice seeks to find ways of building imaginative futures that support Somali people here and in East Africa to resist the threats over our cultural heritage.

Special thank you to the elders in our community, Somali Kitchen and Easton Community Centre and collaborators on the project Jack Stiling, Ibrahim Hirsi, Rowan Bishop, Spencer Rouse, Jen L Roxburgh, Thimali Kodikari and Graphic Design by Jodi Hunt.