Kazim Rashid reveals exclusive trailer for 2001: Pressure Makes Diamonds

Artist and collaborator Kazim Rashid has unveiled an exclusive trailer for It’s Nice That ahead of his exhibition at P21 Gallery London in September.

The work, a short film titled 2001: Pressure Makes Diamonds is a tri-narrative film exploring what he called the “so-called War on Terror and the destruction of global brown and muslim identities, following the catastrophic events of 2001”.

Oldham-born Rashid posits that 2001 was a turning point in modern cultural history which led to what he calls “a post-traumatic fracture” of identity. He uses the year 2001 as a case study, that to him, is identified by three key events; three months of race riots in his home town in Oldham in the north-west of England, the events of 9/11, and the crushing first defeat of Prince Naseem as he lost his first ever fight.

Rashid realises these events via archive footage, television static and a soundtrack that he says “reflects a shared language between immigrants”. Rashid’s audio visual work is influenced by the sounds of his childhood, including Hindi prayer Hare Ram Hare Krishna, Nurat Fateh Ali Khan, Bally Sagoo and producer MA Nguzunguzu.

An exhibition Pressure Makes Diamonds will take place at P21 on 11 September, featuring a group show of selected works by emerging new voices from the South Asian, Arabic and Muslim diaspora in England as well as Kazim Rashid’s film of the same name. The exhibition is curated by Loren Elhili and Abas Zahedi in collaboration with Rashid.

The trailer appears ahead of the full film which will be shown at London’s P21 and then archived on Boiler Room’s new 4:3 site on 18 September.