The Power of Sisterhood
As a young girl, Ashrah Suudy would sit on her mother’s bed, full of excitement, as she waited patiently for her mother, who was getting ready for a wedding. With the smell of Uunsi (incense) burning in the background, she watched her mother carefully look through the collections of Diracs and Shalmaads.
She reminisces, “I would be in awe of her beauty and the metres of fabric elegantly flowing down her small frame.” The significance of Diracs to her culture, childhood memory, and identity has made it the focal point of a film photography series she published a while back titled, ‘East in Colour’. Ashrah explains, “The ‘Dirac’ is a Somali garment that is a long, loose-fitting dress worn on special occasions such as weddings and Eid. It is widely recognised for its assortment of colours and patterns.” She opens up, “These are garments which my mother truly treasures.”
‘East in Colour’ is a series of photographs that signified Ahsrah’s identity as part of Cardiff’s Somali community. It showcases a narrative that she wants people to see about the Black and Muslim communities, instead of the typical one-dimensional, narrow representation portrayed by the mainstream media. She shares, “I want to remove any substance level representation as there is a distinct failure to represent Black and Muslim people as everyday people. I believe one of the ultimate ways to challenge this would be by having diverse representation not only in front of the lens but constructing the narrative behind the lens.”
To extend this narrative further into a new medium, Ashrah is taking on a new challenge of writing and directing a short film titled ‘In a Room Full of Sisters’. This is a short film adaptation of ‘East in Colour’ in which it continues to showcase the authentic representation of her community. “A narrative I felt deeply proud and driven to showcase”, she says. So, what does this community mean to her? From an early age, Ashrah grew up around the Somali community in Cardiff, which strongly impacted her upbringing. Although oftentimes, this influence has gone unnoticed. “But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve truly come to appreciate its existence, which has aided the construction of my very own identity and allowed me to be my true, unapologetic self ”, she opens up.
At the heart of the Somali Community is the presence of Somali women. “The strength and resilient attitude they nourish in their daughters is exceptional,” she proudly shares. Personally, it has shaped Ashrah to be her most authentic self. Acknowledging the role of Somali women in the community drives her to focus her creative work on “this empowering ambience of the Somali womanhood and sisterhood,” she reveals.
‘In a Room Full of Sisters’ has beautifully captured this ambience. Directed and produced by an all-women team, it explores the strength of sisterhood in the Cardiff Somali community, centring around the traditional clothing treasured dearly by her mother, the Diracs. The three groups of Somali sisters were intimately captured while wearing the beautiful, flowing, and vibrant Diracs as they stood against the backdrop of Butetown and Grangetown. Areas that are populated by the Somali community. She says, “On my walks from Grangetown to Butetown, I can truly feel the presence of my community, whether it is walking through my local marketplaces and seeing some Somali dishes, to hearing words of the Somali language being uttered around me.”
These sisters stood in different locations across Butetown and Grangetown as Ashrah narrated the poem she wrote to remind people of the power and importance of celebrating their culture unapologetically.
