Dirty Laundry

Solo exhibition at Alpha Nova & Galerie Futura, curated by Katharina Koch and Sylvia Sadzinski, 28.08.-9.10.2021

With Dirty Laundry alpha nova & galerie futura presents Adi Liraz’s first solo exhibition in Berlin. In her multi-media works, which primarily take the form of textiles, she examines the presence and function of memory and suggests ways to make marginalized voices heard and experienced.

At the center of the project is the examination of her family history as a descendent of the Greek-speaking Jewish community of Romaniots, who are primarily based in Ioannina. Starting with the life and history of her grandmother, Adi Liraz negotiates historical representations and narrations of womanhood as well as the roles and voices of women within this community. She addresses questions of commemorative culture and collective memory, as well as experiences of migration and exile. In doing so, she uses and weaves textiles that she embroidered and produced herself, along with found materials, photographs, and organic (bodily) fluids with elements of traditional Romaniot craft and textile traditions. These complex textile works, which connect Jewish ritual and poetry with family history and personal experience becomes an artistic exploration of love, loss, desire, betrayal, and the struggle for recognition and female emancipation. Through the reuse of materials, common symbols, and handicraft techniques that were customary among the Romaniot and in the Ottoman Empire, the works become textile archives, whose materialities refer to definitions of belonging and migration. The works, most of which were created in Ioannina, Greece, become a form of storytelling through their material culture and are presented as a storehouse of knowledge to tell the story of Romaniot women, which has received little attention.

One of Liraz’s aims is to rewrite history(s) by de-academizing and de-institutionalizing oral tradition and redefining prevailing symbolisms. She intends to radicalize and reclaim conceptions of intimacy and domesticity, with the goal of reappropriating them.
Dirty Laundry questions conceptions of home that extend beyond national, cultural-religious, and patriarchal structures, thereby also challenging notions of a monolithic Judaism. The exhibition presents textile works, a series of photographs, and a video performance by the artist. A program of live performance and workshop by Adi Liraz and an artist talk will accompany the exhibition.

Research and fieldworks (2018/19) in Ioannina were supported by:
Dr. Esther Solomon from the University of Ioannina and her students: Mary Vossou, Semeli Tisarchontou, Vasia Vangeli, Evelina Siopi, Chrysa Lampiri, Filitsa Dimitiadou, Rania Kordali, Anna Tsintzou, Malamatenia Argiropoulou, Stavroula Sygkouna, Dora Zoumpa, Kostis Arapis, and Antonis Kanavouras
Allegra Matsa from the Jewish community of Ioannina
Asylum Arts foundation
Mekeio Foundation House
Isnafi Publications

Support throughout the production of the work:
Katerina Konstantinou
Dora Kechagia
Anna Garty
Eva Gianakopoulou
Persefoni Myrtsou
Robert Yerachmiel Sniderman
Tom Haviv and Eden Pearlstein from Ayin press
Nomen Collective
Raphael Moissis
Alexander Moissis
And some more people and and institutes that I can´t mention

Video artwork ReMembering:
Camera: Malamatenia Argiropoulou
Assistant: Stavroula Sygkouna
Video editing: Adi Liraz
Sound design: Maya Gutmann

Exhibition:
Curators: Dr. Katharina Koch and Sylvia Sadzinski
Montage and light: Sebastian Diaz Rovano