Framer Framed

6 Jul 2024
15:00 - 17:00

Book Launch: Walvistraan

Join us at Framer Framed for the official launch of Walvistraan: A Love Story in a Time of Extinction and Isolation! The publication is the result of a project by Golrokh Nafisi in collaboration with Ahmadali Kadivar during their residency in Werkplaats Molenwijk in 2023.

In summer 2023, Framer Framed welcomed Golrokh Nafisi for an art residency together with her long-term collaborator Ahmadali Kadivar at Werkplaats Molenwijk, a communal space located in Amsterdam-Noord, where artists are invited for a period to share and develop their practice with the local community. Throughout her stay, Golrokh not only immersed herself in the daily life of the neighbourhood, she also dug deep into the multi-layered human and non-human histories in Molenwijk, which informed the prototype of her story, Walvistraan.

In her final week at Werkplaats Molenwijk, Golrokh composed a performance together with Ahmadali. With the delicately planned-out routes and spatial coordinates, the participants become part of a ‘movement’ while following the protagonist’s story and witnessing the large embroidery works unfold and unite before their eyes. The publication Walvistraan: A Love Story in a Time of Extinction and Isolation (2024) is a graphic novel taking the script of the performance as a fertile ground, sharing Molenwijk’s rich historical tapestry interwoven by activism, cultural diversity, and environmental change. It is a story of the resilience and unity of its inhabitants – human and non-human – amidst the forces of modernity, as they reclaim connections to their land of origin and history.

During the book launch, Golrokh and Ahmadali will share the many inspirations they have drawn from the neighbourhood. They will also speak about how they came to the format of a graphic novel, and how this residency experience continues to inform their recent projects and practices in different localities.

Or, you can order the book online here.

Walvistraan: A Love Story in a Time of Extinction and Isolation (2024), page 60-61 © Golrokh Nafisi

About

Golrokh Nafisi is a visual artist whose artistic practice involves designing alternative ways of documenting time and location, shaping a new imagination of time and space to give us direction in the present. Nafisi is interested in discovering new forms of collective action involving bodies and human ideologies.

Ahmadali Kadivar is a writer, researcher and the director of Sedākhāne, the most robust archive of folk music in Iran, building resources in understanding the literary, historical and anthropological aspects of folk music culture.

Authors: Golrokh Nafisi, Ahmadali Kadivar
Graphic Design: Oreri—Iniziativa Editoriale
Publisher: Framer Framed

ISBN: 9789083079387
Text and colour illustrations
Rrso-printed in a limited edition of 150 copies
Poster included
15 x 20 cm | paperback
English, 2024
Price: €25

Werkplaats Molenwijk is made possible by:
Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst, De Alliantie, Bank Giro Loterij Fonds en Stadsdeel Noord.

Werkplaats Molenwijk is an initiative by Framer Framed. Framer Framed is supported by Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap, Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst and Stadsdeel Oost.

Links

• Het Parool - The red past of Amsterdam Noord is covered extensively in Walvistraan
• Werkplaats Molenwijk

Exhibitions

11 Nov – 24 Nov 2023

Presentation: Walvistraan

By Werkplaats Molenwijk artist in residence Golrokh Nafisi

Agenda

Network

Ahmadali Kadivar

Kunstenaar

Golrokh Nafisi

Kunstenaar

Magazine

Bookshop Selection / CICC / Subversive Publishing /

From Archiving to Publishing: Framer Framed's 'New Social'

Amsterdam Noord / Bookshop Selection / Book Launch / Migration / Molenwijk / Podcast / Residencies /

Podcast: Whale Tears and Mole Tunnels. A Graphic History of the Molenwijk district

Bookshop Selection / Amsterdam Noord / Migration / Molenwijk / Residencies /

Bookshop Selection: Walvistraan by Golrokh Nafisi