A Time and a Place by Dee

On my last day at Lansdowne court, I interviewed Mohammed. A very smartly dressed man on the 15th floor of the tower block.

Through telling me about how his laundry had changed during lockdown and respectability and clothes, Mohammed revealed quite a bit to me about his journey as a journalist in the UK. He also challenged my views about wearing traditional cultural clothes in the public sphere. Where I’m of the opinion that cultural Somali clothes have been limited to the private sphere because they’re not deemed appropriate or respectful enough for public life, Mohammed believes that traditional Sudanese clothes are to be worn when you are representing your country or culture in some way. He gave me the example of an Eid dinner, where he and his family dressed in traditional clothing to celebrate a religious holiday among other minority ethnic groups in Easton. However, he believed in an office environment he had no need to represent Sudan, so he wore simple smart clothing; a time and a place. 

It gave me something to think about. Whether I should consider wearing traditional Somali clothes when I have the intention of representing Somalia, or if I should keep trying to normalise wearing traditional clothing in public places.

Today our project launched online and we're really interested to hear what people think. You can find Threads at: http://www.hollybeasleygarrigan.com/threads