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Camel milk cultures with dhaqan collective

, –
Past
  • Free
  • Discussion
Portrait of Ayan Cilmi and Fozia Ismail who are both part of dhaqan collective. Ayan is sitting and Fozia is standing next to a wooden stool with piles of colourful balls of yarn. They are both holding part of the unravelled yellow yarn and smiling at each other. Behind them are six colourful patterned Somali woven textiles hanging on a white wall.
The dhaqan collective, Photo: Leticia Valverdes for Wellcome Collection. Source: Wellcome Collection. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).

Watch a recording of this event in which dhaqan collective discuss the important role of camels and their milk for health and healing in indigenous Somali culture. The dhaqan collective were in conversation with archaeologist Sada Mire, with questions from the audience.

The in-venue audience also heard hear a new immersive soundscape created by the collective, with contributions from a local Somali community based at the British Somali Community Centre in Somers Town, London. Their voices were recorded at a collaborative workshop where the participants discussed the meaning of camel milk in their lives.

The hosts used frankincense reed diffusers during this event, for a more sensual experience.

The conversation but not the soundscape was live-streamed on our YouTube channel. You can get tickets for either the in-person event or the online conversation below. 

The dhaqan collective is a Somali feminist art collective based in Bristol.

Dates

, –
Past

Need to know

Location

We’ll be in the Forum. To get there, take the lift or stairs up to level 1 and then follow the signs through the ‘Being Human’ gallery.

Place not guaranteed

Booking a ticket for a free event does not guarantee you a place. You should aim to arrive 15 minutes before the event is scheduled to start to claim your place. If you do not arrive on time, your place may be given to someone on the waiting list.

For more information, please visit our Accessibility page. If you have any queries about accessibility, please email us at access@wellcomecollection.org or call

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About your contributors

Head and shoulders photo of Fozia Ismail

Fozia Ismail

(she/her)
Host

Fozia Ismail is a scholar, cook and founder of Arawelo Eats, a platform for exploring politics, identity and colonialism through East African food. She has worked with a range of cultural institutions on exploring food and empire, including the London School of Economics, Tate Modern, National Trust and Bristol Old Vic. She has been featured on BBC Radio 4's ‘The Food Programme’, and in the Observer Food Magazine, Vittles and Bristol 24/7. She is part of dhaqan collective, a Somali feminist art collective in Bristol. 

Black and white photograph of the head and shoulders of a young Black woman smiling and looking straight at the camera.

Ayan Cilmi

Host

Ayan Cilmi is a filmmaker, thinker, notetaker, and creative, currently occupied with the themes of surveillance, plastic, climate collapse, and displacement. She has performed her work as part of Haramacy at the Trinity Centre and screened at Conversation & Confinement at The Station. Ayan is part of dhaqan collective, a Somali feminist art collective in Bristol. 

Sada Mire

Speaker

Dr Sada Mire is a Swedish Somali archaeologist, art historian and presenter. She holds a PhD from UCL’s Institute of Archaeology, London. She is the only active Somali archaeologist working in Somalia and Somaliland. Her numerous publications include a dozen peer-reviewed articles in leading journals on some of her notable archaeological and theoretical contributions, as well as book projects. She is a cultural theorist who believes we need culture in times of war, as articulated in her TEDxEuston talk ‘Cultural heritage a basic human need’.