Taus Makhacheva’s Tsumikh
About this Film Screening
Join us for a screening of Fogo Island Arts artist-in-residence Taus Makhacheva's Tsumikh, followed by a Q&A with the artist.
No reservation is required. Drinks will be available for purchase before the screening.
About the artist
Taus Makhacheva is a Russian-Dagestani artist whose diverse practice spans sculpture, performance, film, and food installations. Her food-centred works explore national identity through staged din-ners tracing Dagestan’s culinary evolution from traditional mountain cuisine to luxury cakes. Her work has been included in significant exhibitions such as Lyon Biennale (2019), Liverpool Biennial (2018), and the Venice Biennale (2017), among others. Taus Makhacheva is a recipient of the Lab-rador Current Foodways Residency.
About the film
Цlумихъ (Tsumikh – Avar for “At the Eagle’s”)
In Tsumikh, Makhacheva brings herself and her own biography to centre stage. She interrogates the fraught relationship between personal and public memory by revisiting, comparing and subverting how her late grandfather, Rasul Gamzatov (1923–2003), is remembered. Gamzatov was a prominent Soviet poet celebrated within his community, by the state and internationally.
Makhacheva is herself featured in the film, as she rehearses and prepares for the impossible task of being cast as her grandfather. Her character is presented through a series of encounters and scenarios where a polyphony of voices lay claim to Gamzatov. Language and the politics of translation play an important part in the interactions between characters. Among other questions, the film asks “who can claim memory?”
The film is titled after the plateau in Dagestan where it was shot, called Цlумихъ, Tsumikh (avar language - ‘At the Eagles’).
Languages of the film are Avar and Russian.
Production Support: Sharjah Art Foundation Production Grant
with additional support from the patrons group at the Tselinny Center of Contemporary Culture
