Fondazione dell’Albero d’Oro
Palazzo Vendramin Grimani
San Polo, 2033
30125, Venice
T +39 041 8727 750
info@fondazionealberodoro.org
C.F. 94096710275
PEC fondazionealberodoro@legalmail.it
Workshop
with Zolaykha Sherzad, creator of ZARIF Design, the textile atelier that endures in the heart of Kaboul.
Opening remarks by Fashion designer, author and philanthropist Diane von Furstenberg.
Guest speaker Marco Niada, Arghosha in Afghanistan supporting scholarships programme at IHEID in Geneva and Ca Foscari in Venice.
The evening will be followed by a Sufi dance performance by Sahar Dehghan, dancer and choreographer.
Meeting held in French.
Cocktail to follow.
Free meeting, booking mandatory.
RESERVATIONS ARE NO LONGER ACCEPTED. THE EVENT IS FULLY BOOKED.
Zolaykha Sherzad
Zolaykha was born in Kabul. During the revolution of 1978, she and her family went into exile in Switzerland. Unrest, deprivation and separation marked her adolescence. She found peace in studying architecture. She travelled to Japan and New York, where she settled and co-founded an architecture firm, ARX, which won numerous awards, including the New York Foundation of the Arts Architecture Fellowship (2000) and the Young Architect Forum in 1997.
From 1989 to 2003 she taught architecture at the Pratt Institute of Architecture in New York. In New York, she trained as a fashion designer.
In 2000, Zolaykha returned to Afghanistan, driven by the need to reconnect with her own identity and culture. She decided to participate in the reconstruction efforts. She founded an NGO, School of Hope, to support education in Afghanistan and develop a project based on sewing and women.
She observes how when you lose know-how in thread working, weaving and embroidery, you also lose social ties.
In 2005, she founded Zarif Design, a sewing and arts and crafts company in Kabul, which is still in operation. Zarif in Dari means ‘delicate’, ‘fine, precious’, reflecting the rich Afghan cultural heritage of traditional weaving, silk, ‘Chapan’ cotton strips and embroidery.
As a textile artist, she explores large, ethereal installations, Hawa and Azad - Free Space, exhibited at the Venice Biennale (2009), Kabul, Afghanistan (2011), Documenta 13, Kassel, Germany (2012), Mucem, Marseille, France (2019) and Musée National des Arts Asiatiques Guimet, Paris, France (2022-23). In addition to these installations, recent exhibitions include Sur le fil, créations textiles des Femmes Afghanes (Musées Guimet, Paris October 2022 - February 2023), with a catalogue published by Faton Tisser l'horizon à l'infini (Arles Chapelle Méjan, France, October 2023 - January 20204).
Sahar Dehghan
Born in Iran, dancer-choreographer Sahar Dehghan has travelled the world with over 600 stage performances and 19 projects that she has created and directed. Today she is a solo dancer with Zingaro, the world's most famous equestrian theatre, directed by Bartabas. She was also part of Macha Makeieff's troupe as a solo dancer and actress in the female lead role.
At a very young age, she was one of the first 2 pioneers in the world to dance Sufi dance on stage. Until then, this dance was reserved for men. Sahar danced the lead role in Rimsky Korsakov's Scheherazade with symphony orchestra in Zaha Hadid's opera in Guanzhou, China, for the opening of the Olympic Games and the inauguration of Asia's largest opera house.
