Weltoffenes Berlin-Stipendium 2023

Fellowship

Association Initiative

Grant holder:

Susan Azizi

This year’s grant, offered by the Senate Department for Culture and Europe, goes to Kurdish artist Susan Azizi. The goal of the fellowship is to integrate artists from crisis regions into Berlin’s cultural structures in a way that opens up long-term perspectives for them.

As a vehicle of cultural identity, clothing expresses resistance to social and political oppression. It is no coincidence that authoritarian regimes often use clothing regulations as a form of repression against minorities – as is the case in Kurdistan. In her artistic research as part of the nGbK scholarship „Weltoffenes Berlin“ (Open-minded Berlin), the artist Susan Azizi, who originates from the Iranian part of Kurdistan and lives in exile in Berlin, examines the symbols, materials, forms, and meanings of Kurdish women’s clothing and attempts to convey them through her artistic practice and defend them against invisibility.