Since March 2022, a mothers’ and a fathers’ group of Yekmal e.V. met in alternating weeks at the Berlinische Galerie. The Kurdish association-cum-family center on Waldemarstrasse in Kreuzberg is a self-organized migrant center offering multi-lingual, anti-racist, and empowering programs in German, Kurdish-Kurmanji, Kurdish-Sorani, Kurdish-Zazaki, Arabic, Turkish, and English. The participating mothers and fathers came from Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Lebanon.

Together they visited the Berlinische Galerie accompanied by colleagues from the association and art educators from the Berlinische Galerie. They used the time until the summer vacation to get to know each other and find their bearings. In response to the changing exhibitions, they engaged in conversations about art, identity, and society; on the practical level, they individually or collectively created drawings and experimental sewings.

From September, both groups aimed to develop a concrete project together with the Berlinische Galerie. An extensive conception and research phase was scheduled until early 2023. From the beginning of February to the beginning of May 2023, the museum was closed for a longer period. During this time, the final projects were produced and implemented and could subsequently be viewed at the Berlinische Galerie.

One focus of Yekmal e.V. is on working with families. After the intensive work of the mothers’ and fathers’ groups at the Berlinische Galerie, the plan is now for children and young people of the association, too, to participate in the Standortwechsel project.

Project team sewing workshop: Payman Abdulla (team leader), Naeima Fatah, Akram Ghodsi, Beate Gorges (artistic director), Shukriyeh Hasan Ali, Gashaw Hussein, Maryna Markova (artistic director), Parzhin Mustafa, Sakar Mustafa, Haunaz Raheem, Bahar Salim, Behjat Tatai

Project team fathers’ group: Abdullah Alahmad, Eid Alyan, Ajo Amin (team leader), Hajo Basel, Hammo Ibrahim, Abdulmajid Issa, Abdulrahman Kasem, Abdulrahman Khalil, Omar Khalil, Mohamad Mohamad, M. Fateh Olabi, Marcos Garcia Peréz (artistic director), Othman Ramzi, Fatme Salim