No longer without you
for all our mothers, daughters and sisters
for all our fathers, sons and brothers
no longer without you
do I wish to fight for my freedom
accept loneliness as the price I pay
for my voice
for taking ownership of my honour
no longer without you
do I wish to make this pain fruitless
so that new generations are spared
this legacy
so that our children, and their children’s children
can be who they are
but no longer without you...
" ‘Your father and I have decided that if you don’t do as we say, we’ll commit suicide.’ Her words were a stab in the back and hit sharp clarity into me for the first time in my 18 years. I turned around and saw my place in the midst of my community, uninhabited by me. Because I was different and therefore unworthy. A place to leave for good. I looked my mother straight in the eye. ‘But it is my place, my birthright. I will not let myself be turned into a stranger. I won’t do what you say. I will follow my own path, but you cannot cast me out, because although I will be different, no longer without you.’ ”
Nazmiye Oral based the concept for No Longer Without You on her own experience. The performance confronts us with a fraction of someone’s life, focussed on the moment that they take their first faltering steps toward reconciliation. The actors recount with their loved ones, how they forged their own paths, whilst refusing to estrange themselves from their communities. In tandem with and inextricably connected to the live encounter is a series of photographic portraits, which are displayed in the public realm.
3 June 2015 I Holland Festival I De Vlugt I Amsterdam Slotermeer
10 June 2015 I Holland Festival I De Vlugt I Amsterdam Slotermeer
17 June 2015 I Holland Festival I De Vlugt I Amsterdam Slotermeer