The Post Collective & Anna Housiada
METASPORA
In October 2021, the women of The Post Collective (Mirra Markhaëva, Sawsan Maher and Elli Vassalou) joined forces with Anna Housiada. With Metaspora, they explore how people inhabit the landscape they are part of and what their right is to thrive in a place that is not their homeland. In biology, 'spores' form the seed of the plant, with diaspora communities emerging through dispersal. They themselves, as diaspora communities of people, remain in the binary: here and there, us and them. Metaspora means creating new ecologies of togetherness; a search for ways to connect with and care for the new land, the earth and non-human actors.
During a series of meetings spread throughout the year, The Post Collective and Anna Housiada will search for ways to re-root themselves in the rural landscape of a new country. To this end, they will bring together important celebrations from their diverse cultural backgrounds. All these celebrations have a common denominator: a tradition of collective rituals and a strong connection to the land (think of Buddhist New Year and the Greek Orthodox Apokries in February, the Islamic Ramadan, May Day, the Surharban in July, etc.). These encounters will serve as anchors of connection and exploration, a safe space in the rural atmosphere of their host country Belgium for celebrating multiplicity, co-learning and co-creating. The collective will explore ways of weaving together memories, traditions and cultural space through stories, rural rituals and food. Through Veldwerk, they share the archives of this research in the form of text, drawings, recipes, photographs, video and textiles.
BIO
The Post Collective is an autonomous platform for co-creation, co-education and cultural activism created by and for refugees, asylum seekers, undocumented migrants and allies. The collective aims to offer a range of artistic and cultural employment opportunities, as well as a shared environment for its members, regardless of their legal status. Generative forms of dialogue and storytelling form the basis of speculative and experiential approaches to art and design. The Post Collective strives for creative alternatives beyond the dominant systems of control and exclusion we face. This means facilitating a position in which they do not struggle to be assimilated, but instead reimagine and reconceptualise a future together as a community. The Post Collective are Mirra Markhaëva, Marcus Bergner, Elli Vassalou, Sawsan Maher, Mahammed Alimu and Hooman Jalidi.
