Scream of the sea

Sinéad O’Donnell, ‘Scream of the sea’, Erbil, Iraq, 2011.

Scream of the Sea’, a performance inside the ancient city walls of Erbil, Iraq. Working with two local artists Poshya Kakil & Darya Kamal we wrote requests for violence against women to stop in Iraq and wrote these requests onto a piece of glass. We then carried the glass between us in a procession with singing.

‘Scream of the sea’

Dayra Kamal, Poshya Kakil & Sinéad O’Donnell, ‘CAUTION Project’, Erbil, 2011

Duration – 1 hour.
Artists – Dayra Kamal, Poshya Kakil & Sinéad O’Donnell.
Location – Citadel, Erbil, Kurdistan-Iraq.
Date – 13/11/2011.
Materials – Lipstick and Glass.

The Citadel town of Erbil lies in the middle of the greater city of Erbil, the Capital City of the Kurdish Regional Government in Iraq and is about 350 kilometres north-east of Baghdad, 80 kilometres south-east of Mosul and 96 kilometres north-west of Sulaimaniya.

Using a piece of glass to represent and mirror thoughts, the artists walked through the Citadel with the glass representing an invisible border. A border of women, a border of the country and a border of culture.

The artists wrote requests to stop the violent treatment of women in Iraq. Stop killing women. Freedom for women. We should not obey anyone. We need peace. We need equality. We need freedom.

Dayra Kamal sang from her heart – sounds. In a protective way. Poshya Kakil and Sinéad O’Donnell carried the glass from the begining to the end of the old Citadel road. Along the way the words began to blur and borders slightly shifted.