Photo: Pär kritoffersson

 Between Two Anthems

Performance / Textile / Writing

Artist: Areej Almansory
In collaboration with: Sahar Al-Khateeb
Year: 2022
Exhibited at: Dunkers Kulturhus, Helsingborg, Sweden

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Between Two Anthems is a performance-based work centered on writing selected words from the Iraqi national anthem and the Swedish national anthem onto a long piece of textile. Removed from their official and vocal form, the anthems are transformed into fragments of handwritten language.

During the performance, the artist holds the textile in her lap while looking upward, positioning the body between two national narratives. The fabric becomes a carrier of language, memory, and belonging, while the act of holding it suggests both care and burden.

By translating national symbols into a tactile and silent form, the work reflects on living between countries, where identity is negotiated through embodied presence rather than declaration.