Published by SEVENSTORE for C.P. Company
Author: Millie Throp
While authenticity is not always relatable, it is often respectable; liberating; refreshing. Thus, for filmmaker, photographer and visual artist Alina Akbar, autobiographical storytelling is not only a personal encounter, but a celebration of the bonds in her diaspora, with cultural reflection her spoken mother tongue. Spanning cerebral, white-walled curations to home-grown documentaries, her intersectional approaches hold a mirror to the true Northwest, with her feet planted in intergenerational soil and hands softened with Asiatic heritage.
Where narratives in honour of Manchester’s South Asian community were once scarce, Akbar projects them to be seen without filter. “Everyone sees it as this community-focused work,” she offers offhandedly, “but I just see it as my day-to-day life”. Replacing gallery glamourisation and museum biases with raw footage of domesticity and joy, she pans the focus over ancestorial chapters and the fringes of northern identity – shared by many but told by few.
Moreover, for the auteur, dressing in designer garments from the likes of Stone Island and C.P. Company – badged with their own cultural ties to the working-class through the football Casuals scene – then spurs not an escaping of her grounded roots, but a chance to parade her self-made identity, fragmented in part by fashion, culture, heritage, and faith.
As she takes agency in directing her cherished stomping ground in an exclusive film for SEVENSTORE, titled Lean Street Hooligans, her starring radiates from an elevated uniform. In conversation with prime stylistic influences: her mother, best friend Viss, and C.P. Company president, Lorenzo Osti, the feature is textured with fabric sublimations from Osti’s governing brand and layered further with the tokens of Akbar’s cultural belongings. The foothills of the south Pennines lay backdrop to stories untold as we resign into our own discussions – beside the sartorial – of familial ties and ethical practice, noting the impact of each project she has helmed in her young tapestry.
Raised in Rochdale by a fourth-generation Pakistani household, the 24-year-old’s social awareness first flourished organically, nurtured by the presence of her bloodline. “Our great grandparents came to England to work in the factories that you see dotted around. So, from the jump, the town has a strong Northwest identity,” she reflects. And whilst evolving from the seeds sewn in her streets was pivotal for Akbar and her visual identity, it stands a foreign concept to those who didn’t sprout from such backgrounds. “You get to see what they built from what they had,” she praises.
For modest youth, creative flair can surface within domesticity and the seemingly mundane, as was apparent within Alina’s upbringing. “Speaking to my mum, she’d say I’ve always had a different appreciation for things; always been intuitive,” she recounts. At an early age, where social media created an accessible path for experimentation, Alina found her fervour for grainy visuals through moguls emerging from similar backgrounds. “I never had a personal Instagram; it was always posting things I liked: film photography, grime sets. And now I see those parallels in my work,” she reveals, referencing the square boxes that now frame her own accomplished campaigns and candid snapshots.
Pared back by self-awareness but propelled by gratitude, Alina’s motivation today stems from her fate in comparison to others. “It’s a privilege,” she proclaims of her unremitting freelance career. “Women are oppressed who come from the same background as me; I don’t abuse that position”. So, as a Brown woman now in her in adulthood, while adversities may appear visible, she finds opportunities to educate and be thankful, living out her truth. “I appreciate sitting in the sun, eating and just being human, because it’s that being human that informs my work”.