Êvar Huseynî
Êvar Huseynî is a Kurdish artist and archivist whose personal multi-disciplinary practice focuses on Kurdish genealogies, colonial violence in archives and their relationship with the trajectory of Kurdish feminism and Kurdish identity.
In her analysis of archives, Êvar Huseynî investigates the psychological impact of the archived material; how might archives perpetuate violent histories? What role does archiving play in shaping freedom, specifically that of occupied people and lands? How far does the current archive privilege particular narratives and create bias in the collective memory? Through broadening the range of methodologies she employs in her work, Êvar’s endeavour is to assess the implications of archival structures for Kurdish identity formation. Her work and research can be witnessed through her book-making practise such as “Cries of Soil”, “angels always return”, and "K-land", films such as “Fruit of the Dead” and “my Mum, my Aunt”, large scale installations such as “water and bread split between us - you are my sister and i am your sister”, and her experimental archiving methods of her own documentary photography of Kurdistan, her family and her community.
The West Asian and North African Women’s Art Library (WANAWAL), founded by Êvar in 2019, is an alternative archival practice and library that exists as a digital and physical collection. By questioning the dynamics of archiving, WANAWAL seeks to reshape narratives, away from the ongoing impacts of colonial practices on collective memory. WANAWAL records, collects and exhibits artwork, curatorial projects, publications and general ephemera. Actively seeking diverse materials (ranging from oral histories to personal archives, photographs, writings, and artwork) becomes pivotal to capturing the multifaceted nature of preservation and legacy building, with sensitivity and care at the forefront of its archiving and interpretation of these materials.
Collaboration, connecting with artists, and allowing them to control the way their contributions are engaged with or displayed is integral to WANAWAL, with an encouragement of transparency of being in a constant state of learning and unlearning. In carefully growing the library and the practice that guides the WANAWAL approach, WANAWAL has been able to reach a place of experimentation and adaptation to nurture ideas around collective memory as a liberation practice.