The Moon in your Mouth
This is a performance that explores kinships and cosmologies and ancient mythologies of central Asia through food. This is a loose description of how the performance goes:
As the people are gathering and taking seats on cushions on the floor, I am painting a map on the brown paper on the floor that fits the entire room. In front of every group of people there is a tray of food: Zatar and Olive oil, Olives, Dates and Tahini, and a dish from Gaza called 'Rummaniyeh' bread. I start to tell a story that begins from the foods that people are going to eat, which I connect to a research on food and migration, which connects with the plants and the olive tree in the space, which connects with the planets, and the ancient mythologies from central Asia. Alongside this, I narrate a more recent history of political events in which the earth and these plants have been erased. In the meantime, I am constantly adding drawings to the map of other plants, and of mythical figures and the planets. The performance is centered on Oregano and Venus, Olives and Saturn, Jupiter and Dates, Mars and Pomegranates.
The performance includes a live pomegranate tree, which needs to be bought and adopted by the host as part of a living practice of kinship.
FROM KAAI THEATER WEBSITE
The Moon in your Mouth is a research that explores kinship, and the interconnectivity of human and non-human beings through astrology and the foods we eat.
Stating from the ancient Hermitic phrase:
'No Doubt it is true, that which is above is from that which is below, and that which is below is from that which is above it worked the wonders from one, as all things come from one by means of one considered act, its father is the sun, its mother is the moon, the wind carried it in her womb, the earth fed it, father of talismans, keeper of wonders, perfect in power '.
In this new performance she takes this spiritual phrase as a starting point to unravel ancient cosmologies. As we search for ways to re-tell the story of human life, Samah digs into the ancient eastern astrology and philosophy when the planets in the sky were part of everyday life. As above, so below; as below, so above is the ancient philosophical understanding for the larger cosmology of interconnectedness which fed scientists, farmers, artists and emperors alike. Nobody wanted to upset Saturn, or try to stand in the destructive path of Mars, the great malifics in the sky.
Taking the geographical region of the Mediterranean to Central Asia as her starting point, Samah connects food to the stars. She tells a personal story of how the ancient civilisations of the regions she lived in, hold the story and the knowledge of all our lives today. As she invites the audience to taste traditional foods, she carefully weaves a personal story from her place of birth near the greatest civilisations of humankind, unraveling an intricate story of the unlikely connections of the foods we eat with planets in the skies.
FROM BELLUARD FESTIVAL
In collaboration with an olive tree and a few other familiar plants, Samah Hijawi invites us to gather and share a meal as she maps out the ancient world cosmology: as above, so below. Weaving unexpected lines of kinships between people and their lands, trees and the planets, she reveals what we are collectively losing in times of war and destruction.
As a multi-media artist whose projects are deeply rooted in historical narratives, Samah connects ancient and contemporary spiritual philosophies in a poetic approach with speculative imagination.
As the people are gathering and taking seats on cushions on the floor, I am painting a map on the brown paper on the floor that fits the entire room. In front of every group of people there is a tray of food: Zatar and Olive oil, Olives, Dates and Tahini, and a dish from Gaza called 'Rummaniyeh' bread. I start to tell a story that begins from the foods that people are going to eat, which I connect to a research on food and migration, which connects with the plants and the olive tree in the space, which connects with the planets, and the ancient mythologies from central Asia. Alongside this, I narrate a more recent history of political events in which the earth and these plants have been erased. In the meantime, I am constantly adding drawings to the map of other plants, and of mythical figures and the planets. The performance is centered on Oregano and Venus, Olives and Saturn, Jupiter and Dates, Mars and Pomegranates.
The performance includes a live pomegranate tree, which needs to be bought and adopted by the host as part of a living practice of kinship.
FROM KAAI THEATER WEBSITE
The Moon in your Mouth is a research that explores kinship, and the interconnectivity of human and non-human beings through astrology and the foods we eat.
Stating from the ancient Hermitic phrase:
'No Doubt it is true, that which is above is from that which is below, and that which is below is from that which is above it worked the wonders from one, as all things come from one by means of one considered act, its father is the sun, its mother is the moon, the wind carried it in her womb, the earth fed it, father of talismans, keeper of wonders, perfect in power '.
In this new performance she takes this spiritual phrase as a starting point to unravel ancient cosmologies. As we search for ways to re-tell the story of human life, Samah digs into the ancient eastern astrology and philosophy when the planets in the sky were part of everyday life. As above, so below; as below, so above is the ancient philosophical understanding for the larger cosmology of interconnectedness which fed scientists, farmers, artists and emperors alike. Nobody wanted to upset Saturn, or try to stand in the destructive path of Mars, the great malifics in the sky.
Taking the geographical region of the Mediterranean to Central Asia as her starting point, Samah connects food to the stars. She tells a personal story of how the ancient civilisations of the regions she lived in, hold the story and the knowledge of all our lives today. As she invites the audience to taste traditional foods, she carefully weaves a personal story from her place of birth near the greatest civilisations of humankind, unraveling an intricate story of the unlikely connections of the foods we eat with planets in the skies.
FROM BELLUARD FESTIVAL
In collaboration with an olive tree and a few other familiar plants, Samah Hijawi invites us to gather and share a meal as she maps out the ancient world cosmology: as above, so below. Weaving unexpected lines of kinships between people and their lands, trees and the planets, she reveals what we are collectively losing in times of war and destruction.
As a multi-media artist whose projects are deeply rooted in historical narratives, Samah connects ancient and contemporary spiritual philosophies in a poetic approach with speculative imagination.
مع سماح حجاوي وشجرة الزيتون ونسلها، ومع القمح والسمسم والسماق والمردقوش، مع الرمان والعدس والليمون والتمر والباذنجان والشبت وبعض النباتات المألوفة الأخرى تدعو سماح حجاوي إلى الإلتقاء ومشاركة وجبة طعام بينما ترسم لنا خارطة كوزمولوجية للعالم القديم "كما في الأعلى كذلك في الأسفل" لتنسج خطوطاً غير متوقعة
من القرابة بين الناس والأرض، والأشجار والكواكب، فهكذا تكشف لنا سماح ما نفقده بشكل جماعي في أوقات الحرب والدمار
تتجذر أعمال سماح ذات الوسائط المتعددة في شغلها في السرديات التاريخية، فتربط بين الفلسفات الروحية القديمة والمعاصرة في مقاربة شعرية ذات خيال تأملي واسع
من القرابة بين الناس والأرض، والأشجار والكواكب، فهكذا تكشف لنا سماح ما نفقده بشكل جماعي في أوقات الحرب والدمار
تتجذر أعمال سماح ذات الوسائط المتعددة في شغلها في السرديات التاريخية، فتربط بين الفلسفات الروحية القديمة والمعاصرة في مقاربة شعرية ذات خيال تأملي واسع