don't worry
i won't forget you
14 June - 10 August 2024
Tuesday - Saturday, 11:00 - 17:00
FormaHQ
140 Great Dover Street
London
SE1 4GW
Read the full exhibition guide
For press enquiries:
Jenny O’Neill, Publishing & Communications Manager
jon@forma.org.uk
Credits
Exhibition identity by Saadia Mebchour.
don't worry i won't forget you is supported by an Arts Council England National Lottery Grant, the Swiss Cultural Fund UK, and Forma.
don’t worry i won’t forget you
Curated by Êvar Hussayni and Sarah Hamed
14 June - 10 August 2024
don’t worry i won’t forget you is an interactive library, exhibition and public programme guest curated by Êvar Hussayni and Sarah Hamed, that was presented at FormaHQ between 13 June - 10 August 2024.
Reimagining how archives are built, activated and used, don’t worry i won’t forget you presents the entire physical archive of the West Asian and North African Women’s Art Library (WANAWAL) for the first time since it's inception. Books, tapes, magazines, research and various ephemera are displayed to create an intimate and welcoming setting that encourages visitors to engage directly with the material. By rejecting traditional and hierarchical approaches, this alternative environment explores how experimental archival methods can facilitate inclusive, generative experiences. Here visitors are invited to thoroughly explore the archive, delve into the wealth of stories and histories it preserves, seek parts of their own narrative or find joy in discovering others.
Participating artists: Ayreen Anastas & Rene Gabri, Xece "Khadija Baker", Meriem Bennani, Shamiran Istifan, Olivia Melkonian, and Sara Rahman.
Olivia Melkonian, Echoes of (our) memory sound archive tour. FormaHQ, London. 27 July 2024. Programmed as part of don’t worry i won’t forget you, 2024. FormaHQ, London. Courtesy the artist. Photo: Forma.
Installation view: don’t worry i won’t forget you, FormaHQ, London, 2024. The West Asian and North African Women’s Art Library, curated by Êvar Hussayni and Sarah Hamed. Supported by Arts Council England, Forma and The Swiss Cultural Fund UK. Courtesy the artists, the WANAWAL and Forma. Photo: Forma.
Installation view: don’t worry i won’t forget you, FormaHQ, London, 2024. The West Asian and North African Women’s Art Library, curated by Êvar Hussayni and Sarah Hamed. Supported by Arts Council England, Forma and The Swiss Cultural Fund UK. Courtesy the artists, the WANAWAL and Forma. Photo: Forma.
don’t worry i won’t forget you, opening event, FormaHQ, London. 13 June 2024. The West Asian and North African Women’s Art Library, curated by Êvar Hussayni and Sarah Hamed. Image courtesy of the artists, the WANAWAL and Forma. Photo: Forma.
Meriem Bennani, FLY, 2016. Single channel digital video (colour, sound), 17 min, 33 seconds. Installation view: don’t worry i won’t forget you, FormaHQ, London. Courtesy and © the artist. Photo: Forma.
Installation view: don’t worry i won’t forget you, FormaHQ, London, 2024. The West Asian and North African Women’s Art Library, curated by Êvar Hussayni and Sarah Hamed. Supported by Arts Council England, Forma and The Swiss Cultural Fund UK. Courtesy the artists, the WANAWAL and Forma. Photo: Forma.
Ayreen Anastas and Rene Gabri, Gaza, Year 0, 2024. Digital print of pencil and ink on paper banner. Installation view: don’t worry i won’t forget you, FormaHQ, London. Courtesy the artists and the Anti-Denialist Coalition. © the artists. Photo: Forma.
Olivia Melkonian, The Listening Lounge, 2024. Archival material, sonic equipment. Installation view: don’t worry i won’t forget you, FormaHQ, London. Courtesy the artist and the West Asian and North African Women's Art Library. Photo: Forma.
Shamiran Istifan, Remember Me Forever, 2024. Glue paint, mirror foil, styrofoam, jersey, wadding, booklet. Installation view: don’t worry i won’t forget you, FormaHQ, London. Supported by the Swiss Cultural Fund UK, Arts Council England, WANAWAL and Forma. Courtesy and © the artist. Photo: Forma.
Shamiran Istifan, Remember Me Forever, 2024. Glue paint, mirror foil, styrofoam, jersey, wadding, booklet. Installation view: don’t worry i won’t forget you, FormaHQ, London. Supported by the Swiss Cultural Fund UK, Arts Council England, WANAWAL and Forma. Courtesy and © the artist. Photo: Forma.
Sara Rahman, you go once before, 2023. Visual essay, 4 minutes and 39 seconds. Musical score, black ink on Ilford Cotton Texture paper, acrylic frame. Commissioned by Sound and Music in response to the Heritage Quay archive at the University of Huddersfield and the British Music Collection. Installation view: don’t worry i won’t forget you, FormaHQ, London. Courtesy and © the artist. Photo: Forma.
Archive details: don’t worry i won’t forget you, FormaHQ, London, 2024. The West Asian and North African Women’s Art Library, curated by Êvar Hussayni and Sarah Hamed. Supported by Arts Council England, Forma and The Swiss Cultural Fund UK. Courtesy the artists, the WANAWAL and Forma. Photo: Forma.
Archive details: don’t worry i won’t forget you, FormaHQ, London, 2024. The West Asian and North African Women’s Art Library, curated by Êvar Hussayni and Sarah Hamed. Supported by Arts Council England, Forma and The Swiss Cultural Fund UK. Courtesy the artists, the WANAWAL and Forma. Photo: Forma.
The WANWAWAL was founded in 2019 by artist and archivist Êvar Hussayni to reject the colonial methodologies often embedded in how archives are formed and accessed, by building a publicly accessible library and archive that innovatively catalogues and preserves the creative contributions by practitioners from West Asia and North Africa (WANA).
Embracing the liberatory power that can be found in collective memory-making and sharing outside of colonial practices, the curators have invited artistic interventions from seven contemporary WANA practitioners, including two new commissions. Interspersed throughout the exhibition these works provide a mutual lens to the archive, each contextualising and informing the other.
Antonia Shaw, Head of Programmes, Forma:
"Forma is grateful to collaborate with Êvar Hussayni and Sarah Hamed on the presentation of don’t worry i won’t forget you, following WANAWAL’s five-month residency at FormaHQ. The exhibition, which is dedicated to amplifying and documenting the work of WANA artists, spans our entire building - embedding in our presentation and residency spaces, intervening in Presse Books and presenting performance in our rooftop garden. Forma champions work that is vital, empowering practitioners to realise career-defining and experimental projects that address today’s pressing issues and use care as an approach. don’t worry i won’t forget you is a crucial counter to the colonial legacies that shape our cultural landscape. In asking us to reconsider whose narratives we preserve and urging us to record erased histories, don’t worry i won’t forget you is a critical practice of collective and continual remembering."
An exhibition guide also accompanies the programme, which includes texts by the curators and commissioned essays by Nada Atieg, Rojda Yavuz and Florenza Deniz Incirli and can be read in full here.
don’t worry i won’t forget you, opening event, FormaHQ, London. 13 June 2024. The West Asian and North African Women’s Art Library, curated by Êvar Hussayni and Sarah Hamed. Image courtesy of the artists, the WANAWAL and Forma. Photo: Forma.
don’t worry i won’t forget you, opening event, FormaHQ, London. 13 June 2024. The West Asian and North African Women’s Art Library, curated by Êvar Hussayni and Sarah Hamed. Image courtesy of the artists, the WANAWAL and Forma. Photo: Forma.
don’t worry i won’t forget you, opening event, FormaHQ, London. 13 June 2024. The West Asian and North African Women’s Art Library, curated by Êvar Hussayni and Sarah Hamed. Image courtesy of the artists, the WANAWAL and Forma. Photo: Forma.
don’t worry i won’t forget you, opening event, FormaHQ, London. 13 June 2024. The West Asian and North African Women’s Art Library, curated by Êvar Hussayni and Sarah Hamed. Image courtesy of the artists, the WANAWAL and Forma. Photo: Forma.
don’t worry i won’t forget you, opening event, FormaHQ, London. 13 June 2024. The West Asian and North African Women’s Art Library, curated by Êvar Hussayni and Sarah Hamed. Image courtesy of the artists, the WANAWAL and Forma. Photo: Forma.
don’t worry i won’t forget you, opening event, FormaHQ, London. 13 June 2024. The West Asian and North African Women’s Art Library, curated by Êvar Hussayni and Sarah Hamed. Image courtesy of the artists, the WANAWAL and Forma. Photo: Forma.
don’t worry i won’t forget you, opening event, FormaHQ, London. 13 June 2024. The West Asian and North African Women’s Art Library, curated by Êvar Hussayni and Sarah Hamed. Image courtesy of the artists, the WANAWAL and Forma. Photo: Forma.
don’t worry i won’t forget you, opening event, FormaHQ, London. 13 June 2024. The West Asian and North African Women’s Art Library, curated by Êvar Hussayni and Sarah Hamed. Image courtesy of the artists, the WANAWAL and Forma. Photo: Forma.
14 June - 10 August 2024
Tuesday - Saturday, 11:00 - 17:00
FormaHQ
140 Great Dover Street
London
SE1 4GW
Read the full exhibition guide
For press enquiries:
Jenny O’Neill, Publishing & Communications Manager
jon@forma.org.uk
Credits
Exhibition identity by Saadia Mebchour.
don't worry i won't forget you is supported by an Arts Council England National Lottery Grant, the Swiss Cultural Fund UK, and Forma.