Free entry
Thu 16 Jul, 7-8pm
| Monday | Closed |
| Tuesday | 11am–6pm |
| Wednesday | 11am–6pm |
| Thursday | 11am–9pm |
| Friday | 11am–6pm |
| Saturday | 11am–6pm |
| Sunday | 11am–6pm |
Whitechapel Gallery is committed to making all of our exhibitions as accessible as possible for every visitor. Please contact access@whitechapelgallery.org if you would like to discuss a particular request and we will gladly discuss with you the best way to accommodate it.
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Join artist Fozia Ismail for the opening conversation of A Song for the Xeedho – the Knot Makers.
Fozia will introduce the ideas, histories and questions that shape the installation, from Somali nomadic heritage and women’s craft traditions to climate grief, migration and memory.
Taking the xeedho – a woven vessel made for Somali wedding ceremonies – as a starting point, the conversation will explore how objects can hold stories of land, movement, care and loss. In conversation with journalist Precious Adesina, Fozia will reflect on the making of the work, the knot as both material and metaphor, and what it means to honour forms of knowledge carried through family, oral tradition and embodied practice.
This event is part of Backyard Biennial.
Fozia Ismail is a British Somali artist, founder of Arawelo Eats and co-founder of dhaqan collective. Her practice moves across food, sound, textiles and found objects to create works exploring migration, climate, identity and diasporic memory.
Rooted in Somali nomadic feminist pedagogy, her work approaches everyday cultural practices as living archives of care, knowledge and survival. Through collective acts of listening, eating, weaving and making, she reframes domestic and communal space as sites of shared authorship. Central to her practice are inherited materials and objects connected to her mother’s Somali nomadic roots – vessels, spices, textiles, cassette tapes and sound recordings, which she transforms into sculptural, time-based and archival works.
Ismail has exhibited internationally at the British Textile Biennale, Southbank Centre, Biennale Architettura Venice, Weltmuseum Wien, Playable Cities, Osaka and Jodhpur Art Week.
A Song for the Xeedho – the Knot Makers is supported by Counterpoints Arts and Arts Council England.
Precious Adesina is a London-based freelance writer, presenter and moderator. Her work explores the intersections of the arts, culture, lifestyle, and social politics, often centring on underrepresented artists and overlooked perspectives in the UK and internationally.
Formerly a journalist at The Telegraph, she now regularly writes for leading outlets including The New York Times, BBC Culture, The Guardian, Financial Times, CNN, The Economist, and The Art Newspaper, among others. Adesina has been invited to speak at institutions such as Whitechapel Gallery, the Barbican Centre, Nottingham Contemporary, and University College London, her alma mater.
Across both her journalism and public engagements, she consistently highlights how the arts reflect, challenge, and reshape today’s social and cultural landscape.
