Category: Press

Invisible Barriers: Moving Images publication

Launch of ‘Draw Down the Walls’ publication ‘Invisible Barriers: Moving Images’, took place at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Belfast, Wednesday 22 June 2016.

invisible barriers...moving images... Publication

invisible barriers…moving images… Publication

The book is a fully illustrated record of the stories behind the Invisible Barriers project and the 5 commissioned films facilitated and directed by Zhenia Mahdi-Nau and includes an introduction by writer Glenn Patterson (Good Vibrations co-screenwriter).

“I am in the United States… as a visiting lecturer, teaching a class called Belfast Narratives… I want them… to have a different understanding when they leave the class at the end of the Semester than they had when they came in at the start… And it occurs to me that one of the ways to ensure this would be to dim the lights and show them the Draw-Down-The-Walls films, one after the other… They illuminate where we are, and they show us – and others – where we might go next…Sometimes… by looking inward you still find new ways of seeing and being, and communicating. Draw-Down-The-Walls films do all that and much, much more.”-Glenn Patterson, ‘Invisible Barriers: Moving Images’ publication, 2016

Zhenia Mahdi-Nau with Peter Richards (GTG) a nd Secretary of Department of Irish Affairs

Zhenia Mahdi-Nau with Peter Richards (GTG) a nd Secretary of Department of Irish Affairs

Glenn Patterson and Ruth Graham from Golden Thread Gallery

Glenn Patterson and Ruth Graham from Golden Thread Gallery

Launch of Invisible Barriers...Moving Images... publication

Launch of Invisible Barriers…Moving Images… publication

To view films in full click on links below:

Copies

Intern 3

Along the Lines

The Carcass Among Us

The Wall

‘Invisible Barriers: Moving Images’ is one of 7 ‘Creative Belfast’ projects funded through the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and Belfast City Council in 2015.

‘Invisible Barriers: Moving Images’, was developed by ‘Draw Down the Walls’ – a partnership between North Belfast Interface Network, Lower Shankill Community Association and Golden Thread Gallery. The project enabled over 100 individuals across five groups to come together and use film to get their voices heard in their own communities and also by the people who make decisions that affect them. For many groups this was their first interaction with a creative art form.

Participating groups in the programme included Marrowbone Youth Club, Lower Shankill Youth Project; Lower Shankill Adults; Golden Thread Gallery Summer School and the Participation and Practice of Rights organisation’s Right to Work, Right to Welfare campaign.

Copies available at Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast.

Tapestry of Colours – Derry Post

This article appeared in Derry Post in March after the screening in Magherafelt. The following is an excerpt from the article…

“Speaking following the film, Sean Henry, Good Relations Officer for Magherafelt District council said that the choice of people in the film and their experiences was amazing. This film, he said can teach viewers about cultural diversity, in a way that no training course could.”

Tapestry of Colours in Magherafelt

Tapestry of Colours – Londonderry Sentinel

This article appeared in Londonderry Sentinel just before the screening at the Nerve Centre today. The following is an excerpt from the interview…

The film brings to the surface the fact that, despite different beliefs and practices of cultures, essentially, there are human stories that bypass geography, race, belief or culture and are commonly experienced by all.

“She believes that “the quest to find who you are and to have a sense of belonging is not unique to any particular culture. It is this sense of belonging that helps to create the desire to contribute positively to the society we live in”

To read the article – click here

Incredible review of Banco De Gaia’s album ‘Apollo’ and my vocals

FREQ

It pretty much blew my mind reading this review on FREQ by Gary Parsons and such kind words about my vocals too:

“The album opens with “Lamentations” – soaring string-sounding synths build up beneath a beautiful vocal from Zhenia Mahdi-Nau, and the sound here is very reminiscent of Dead Can Dance as it conjures up the images of the ancient pagan temples clinging close to the cliff edges on Greek islands. Whether this is a lamentation to the crumbling state of these monuments or a lament for the rituals of old matters not, it is a powerful opener and one that casts a spell over the album…..“Acquiescence” closes the album, its breathless vocal chant bringing us back to the ancient temples where the sun is now setting casting deep its darkness until the stars begin to appear in the sky above like a shining carpet. Keyboards swell underneath an impassioned voice and we are left in its mood of sombre quiet as the music drifts off into the aether.

The album seems to tell a story (although it is certainly not a concept album) and bookended by two graceful tracks give the sense of the beginning and end of a journey. Was the album worth the seven year wait? I, for one, certainly think so.”

Click here to hear Lamentations

Click here to hear Acquiescence

To read the full review click here