Pure Hand Work
2012
In collaboration with Anna Anders
5:48 min
Full HD
Performers: Otra Baderni, Nawal Darawshe, Fatima Knaane, Lushka Knaane, Raeda Knaane, Angelika Madi, Nazira Madi, Asmaa Naamneh, Nabilah Naamneh, Nazira Naamneh, Amera Saadi
Drum player: Raghda Taha
The video was created as part of a workshop held in the small Arab town of Arraba in northern Israel, led by Anna Anders and Maria Vedder. The occasion was the 2013 “Second Mediterranean Biennale”, themed “Re-Orientation”, held in the Arab-Israeli city of Sakhnin.The artistic director of the Biennale was Belu-Simion Fainaru.
The participants were members of an organization for Arab women that produces and sells traditional handicrafts (Afnan Al Galil).
The women were asked to bring a tool or object from their daily lives and perform a repetitive movement sequence with it. The women knitted, embroidered, crocheted, braided hair, ground grain, or kneaded dough. Then they performed these hand movements without the respective object. These “dancing” hands were accompanied by a drum rhythm played by one of the participants.
