About female prayers – The Sacred & The Secular

A performative film and sound art installation that dissolves the boundaries between audience and staging. The piece is based on the hope that one day we will hear female voices calling for prayer in public spaces around the world. The piece challenges patriarchal structures and traditional notions of gender roles, social structures, and the religion of Islam.

The installation is composed of film and sound recordings from different countries, where Friday prayers are led by female imams. These sound and location recordings are composed to musical soundscapes, supported by documentary footage and a personal story told by artist Nevin Tuna Erönde. The story is told through seven letters to her late grandmother, in which Erönde examines ritual practice by drawing parallels between her grandmother’s Muslim prayer and her own yoga practice. A story about growing up in Denmark by Turkish parents and about finding oneself between a grandmother who was a practicing Muslim and a secular mother. A story about differences between women and cultures – and a story about living in the Nordic countries at the intersections of gender, ethnicity and religion.

The audience is part of the installation as a congregation in a ritual room (surrounded by four videos projection screens) participating in Friday prayers led by female imams. This is experienced through changing soundscapes and film footage, participation in a purification ritual and a guided prayer.

Production Team
Nevin Tuna Erönde, Artistic Director / Sound Artist / Producer
Ingeborg Okkels // Sound Artist
Kristian Hverring // Sound Artist
Stephanie Degiorgio // Visual Artist
Heli Sorjonen // Photographer
Suvi Andrea Helminen // Video editor/colorgrading
Kremena Dimitrova // Website developer
Kong Gulerod Film // Color grading

Themes in female prayers //
patriarchy, racism, religion, misoginy, sexism, grief, loss, trauma, love, healing, ancestry