Created by
Abas El Janabi, Amani Creatives, Arian Sadr, Fereshteh Mozaffari and Mahboobeh Rajabi
Directed by
Cheryl Martin
Artists
Firoozeh Forzouni, Job Kayembe, Mina Salama, Mohammad ToHidi, Sandra Belezika, Tsepe Tsehepela and the Amani Choir
CAN's performance, Flying Carpets, created with Manchester Museum in Autumn 2017, was a one-off site-specific and family friendly experience developed as part of CAN’s Exodus programme.
Flying Carpets was made through a unique collaboration between the museum’s curatorial staff and artists new to the region that unearthed the narratives behind artefacts, drawn from the museum’s four million objects strong collection, that had a special resonance to the artists.
Meeting in the museum’s foyer, audiences were led on a journey through the galleries to see the museum in a whole new light and to experience stories from 4000 BC Mesopotamia to the 21st century, from the Middle East to Africa, and to connect visitors to the North West’s refugee communities.
Hidden histories and present-day stories of a Saturday night in a Congolese village, to the ramblings of Ishtar, the Mesopotamian Goddess of Love, to political oppression, war and displacement were told through dance, performance with music from Egypt to the Gambia.
Flying Carpets was presented as part of Journeys Festival International with Rethink Rebuild Society
