drove to kent, ohio, this weekend to be with family and celebrate the life of our khalajaani, dureshehwar aziz khan. what a blessing to spend time with my cousins and their families including wonderful nieces and nephews. what a privilege to drive there with my brother and nephew (6 hours for them, 8 hours for me) and experience such precious moments together. on to the next generation – may they find support and kinship in one another. got back to long island just in time this morning, it’s snowing now.
Author: mara.ahmed
new year’s eve 2024
as we step into 2025 (an arbitrary threshold with just one meaning at this moment – the shattering reality that a holocaust has been enabled and supported for more than a year in full view of the world), i feel unsettled. the cognitive dissonance that many of us have experienced since october 2023 (or since forever) seems heavy. on the one hand, i am thankful for my family and friends and the fact that we live in relative security, on the other, i am intensely aware of the suicidal gluttony, violence and vulgarity that underpin all systems promising safety in exchange for genocide. the brutal murder of robert brooks in a graphic video that’s impossible to watch, reminds me of the bodies being starved, exploded, pulverized, and piled into mass graves in gaza. i want to write something about the racial dynamics of it. the word ‘dehumanization’ is so overused, it’s lost all meaning. what is truly happening when the black or brown body is savagely penetrated, its skin broken, its borders breached? the mind boggles at the viciousness embedded in white supremacist colonial ideologies, and the widespread silence, convoluted justifications, and hardcore denial they entail. i have no faith in any of these systems – capitalism, the nation state, settler colonial logics, imperial bs, or international ‘rules’ and pompous political rhetoric. the only thing that makes sense is community, resistance, and indigenous/ palestinian ways of living in concert with the land and its inhabitants, with respect and generosity. may 2025 be a year of peace and connection. may 2025 be the year we celebrate palestinian freedom.
A space of our own on Long Island
As we approach the end of 2024, a big shout-out to @pyaari_azaadi and her brilliant Hicksville-based project (supported by a fellowship from @huntingtonarts) which hopes to bring South Asian feminist creatives together on Long Island. It’s a powerful idea about solidarity, kinship, art, politics, language, and intent. Honored to be on this journey together – look forward to collabs and lots of fun. Here we are in Pyaari’s enchanted sunroom earlier in December <3
Where is Dr. Hussam Abu Safiyeh?
Dr. Hussam Abu Safiyeh is the head of pediatrics and the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza. Israel killed his son in front of him. The genocidaires injured him and threatened to kill him. They burned the hospital down over his head. Even though he had the chance to leave, he refused to abandon his patients. He stayed until he was taken hostage by Israel. Ask for his immediate release.
A hero for the ages.
Elizabeth Catlett’s work at the Brooklyn Museum
A couple of weeks ago I saw Elizabeth Catlett’s work at the Brooklyn Museum. I had already seen ‘Target’ as part of the exhibition ‘We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965–85’ in Buffalo, in 2018. It’s a beautiful bronze bust of a Black man, his distinguished face seen through the crosshairs of a rifle scope made of metal and drilled roughly into the wood block that holds the sculpture. Fierce.
‘Elizabeth Catlett (1915-2012) was an avowed feminist, a lifelong activist, and an astutely observant artist. Spanning 75 years of diverse production, Catlett’s career was guided by her bold creative artistry, rigorous practice, and deep commitment to social justice and political activism.’
The first thing one sees in Brooklyn, as one enters the exhibition, is an exquisite terra cotta sculpture of a woman’s head. I was completely overcome by the delicate beauty of the piece.
In 1946, Catlett moved to Mexico as a guest artist at the printmaking collective, Taller de Grafica Popular. It was in Mexico City that she learned the terra cotta technique she later employed in her work (building a hollow shape from coils of clay) from the artist Francisco Zuniga. This indigenous technique, which allows the gentle definition of features, was in use long before the Spanish invaded and colonized. ‘Tired’ which depicts a physically depleted Black woman claiming a moment of respite and ‘Mother and Child,’ a smaller piece which brims with tenderness and the sense of safety we should all be allowed to feel in our parent’s arms, are stunning. The mother’s muscular legs seem to be rooted in the soil beneath her and reminded me of Soviet monuments and Diego Rivera’s murals.
‘While ultimately becoming a Mexican citizen, Catlett never lost sight of the Black liberation struggle in the United States. She embraced a political radicalism that merged the goals of the Black Left in the United States with the lessons of the Mexican Revolution and international feminist movements. Her transnational identity fueled a critical understanding that Black Americans and Mexicans were linked with other oppressed people around the world in a struggle against poverty, racism, and imperialism. As a result, she developed a rich visual language through which she articulated her solidarity politics across various media.’
Her sketches, lithographs, woodcuts, lino prints, watercolors, and sculptures bridge the gap between aesthetics and politics.
Catlett’s work will be on display at the Brooklyn Museum until Jan 19, 2025.
Bapsi Sidhwa (1938 – 2024)
Bapsi Sidhwa has passed away. She was a national treasure. I read ‘The Crow Eaters’ when I was in college. My friend Najeeb had just finished reading the book and was kind enough to lend me his copy, with much enthusiasm. What I loved most about the book was its location – the vibrant, bustling, mythical city of Lahore, the city of my birth. The story took place during British colonial rule and focused on the Parsi community, a Zoroastrian community settled in the Indian subcontinent since the 7th century. The writing, in English, was sharp, colorful, bawdy. I had never read anything like it before, least of all from a Pakistani woman novelist. The bright intensity and earthiness of her work stayed with me. I read ‘An American Brat’ soon after I moved to the US in my 20s, and it spoke to me loudly – as an immigrant trying to find an emotional anchor to a new home and a young woman configuring and reconfiguring the various pieces of her identity. Later I read ‘Ice Candy Man,’ the book about the partition of India that inspired Deepa Mehta’s film, Earth. Many consider Sidhwa’s book to be an important intervention in the telling of the partition story. Countless papers have been written about its decolonial approach, its feminist lens, its centering of minorities, its understanding of spatiality, its hyphenated perspectives, and polyphonic narrative experiences. It’s a book that’s semi-autobiographical and shows how the violent tear of the partition was multi-tiered and enduring. Sidhwa had been living in the US since the 1980s. A true pioneer. May she rest in peace.
New Queer Cinema from Long Island
So happy to attend NEW QUEER CINEMA FROM LONG ISLAND yesterday evening, a celebration of independent queer cinema at @cinema_arts. Three genre-defying short films created by three filmmakers of color from Long Island (Grace Zhang, Jard Lerebours, and Devon Narine-Singh), curated by the wonderful Grace Zhang, and supported by Huntington Arts. More of this on Long Island pls!
a project with shawn dunwoody
psyched to welcome the iconic shawn dunwoody and his beautiful wife bella to our home this morning! equally psyched to announce that we are working on a project together which will include an art exhibition and a film screening – coming up in jan and april 2025. loved how shawn asked me some provocative questions that helped define the contours of the exhibit and its central themes. an extraordinary artist and curator. thank u so much shawn and bella <3
Alan and Watts: A Platonic Dialogue on Muhammad and Interfaith Understanding
I am flattered that the wonderful George Payne has written a beautiful piece about Muslims in America (in the form of a dialogue between two friends) and has chosen to use my film, The Muslims I Know, to structure his thesis. It’s no coincidence. In 2016, George along with my friend Judith Bello, organized a screening of The Muslims I Know at the Irondequoit Public Library. The screening (sponsored by Metro Justice Peace Action & Education, the Fellowship of Reconciliation’s Rochester Chapter, and Gandhi Earth Keepers International) led to a productive discussion which could easily continue today given our present political context. Thank you George for writing so beautifully about the film. My views on/ approach to anti-Muslim racism have changed over the years, but it’s a documentary that’s very much part of my evolution as an activist filmmaker.
From George’s piece:
“Yes, the resilience is extraordinary. And I think that’s what The Muslims I Know does so well. It shows us the real, lived experiences of Muslims — not as statistics or abstractions but as full human beings with hopes, fears, families, and aspirations. It confronts us with the fact that Islamophobia is not just a political or ideological issue — it’s a deeply personal one that affects real lives. The film captures the tenderness, strength, and grace with which people navigate a world that often judges them unfairly.” More here.
Pre-order Batool Abu Akleen’s book
The brilliant Batool Abu Akleen, whose poems we have read for the Warp & Weft, is publishing her first book! Pls pre-order and support her astonishing work.
48kg.
By Batool Abu Akleen
Translated from the Arabic by the poet, with Graham Liddell, Wiam El-Tamami, Cristina Viti & Yasmin Zaher
A debut collection from the Palestinian poet—Modern Poetry in Translation’s Poet in Residence, 2024—a bilingual assembly of forty-eight poems in which each work accounts for a single kilogram; a body’s mass; a testament to a sieged city; a vivid and visceral voicing of the personal and the public in the midsts of unspeakable violence.
You can pre-order your copy here.
A tribute to Khaled Nabhan
Dr Omar Suleiman: Today a righteous man was killed by the most wicked army on earth. Khaled Nabhan who we watched bid farewell to his beloved Reem, the soul of our soul, has joined her in the realm of souls where the wickedness of this so called humanity will no longer reach them. The man had an angelic presence to say the least. He smiled in the face of a genocide, and went around hospitals and camps comforting people despite his own pain. A man who seemed too good to be here. I longed for the day to meet him in person. I imagined the day the genocide would be over and he would be celebrated with awards around the world on the biggest stages. The demonized turbaned Muslim man who was everything they said he couldn’t be. Kind. Loving. Righteous. Resilient. Too good for this world. Our hearts are broken.
my khala, dureshewar aziz khan, passes away
our dear khalajaani, dureshewar aziz khan, has passed away. named after the beautiful princess durrusehvar sultan, daughter of the ottoman caliph abdulmejid, my khala was the star of a family of extraordinary people – writers, speakers, political activists, athletes, linguists, lovers of art and poetry but also sports and outdoor life. khalajaani excelled at her studies from early on. she graduated from medical school, became an OBGYN, and worked as a doctor for the pakistan army, attaining the rank of captain. this was back in the 1960s when women all over the world had not yet won some of the rights (however tenuous they might be) that we take for granted now. she married a dashing air force officer and lived an adventurous life, spending years in libya where her husband was posted and going on ski vacations at a PAF resort in the karakoram, the second-highest mountain range on earth. i still remember how their home in rawalpindi was filled with classical music and expressionist art. after we moved from brussels to islamabad, my mom and khala organized many fun excursions together. we would have picnics at lotus lake and climb trees that seemed as tall as hills. our moms were young, sporty, vibrant. the trips ended abruptly when khalajaani had to deal with a heartbreaking family tragedy. she did it with a reserve of strength, positivity, and intelligence that was nothing short of heroic. in middle age she became a psychiatrist perhaps to better heal herself and those around her. she wrote a book on the subject. in their 70s, my khala and khaloo made the courageous decision to move to the US, to be close to their only son. he was everything to them, and later his children became the heart of their existence. some years ago i remember khalajaani calling my mom. i picked up the phone and we began to talk. she asked me about my political and film work. i tried to be brief so as not to bore her but she asked a lot of questions. she shared her own ideas and then asked me what i thought. she considered my opinions carefully and even changed her mind at times. she was already ill and bedridden in those days, but her mind could still be as sharp as a tack. there was a lifetime of brilliance and intellectual curiosity to sustain it after all. may she rest in power. inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un.
[my khaloo is on the left, next to him is his friend, my attique mamoon, my khala is the beautiful young woman on the right, the one without glasses]
birthday fun continues
ice skating at brookfield place with my daughter last night (so grateful that it always comes back to me), dinner at PJ clarke’s, and then breakfast with rachel (my rochester fam) at two hands this morning followed by a short visit to codex, a wonderful little bookstore rachel took me to on bleecker street. i went to two museums – the national museum of the american indian which is minutes from my daughter’s apt and the brooklyn museum where i saw elizabeth catlett’s stunning work – more about that later.
xmas magic in new york
in nyc with my kids trying belgian waffles and mexican empanadas (opted for cheese and guava) at the xmas market in bryant park
a week of birthday wishes
dear friends and fam, thank u for the birthday wishes and sweet messages all day long yesterday. it was a pleasure and an honor – i am so grateful. the day ended with a yummy italian dinner with my dear husband and a beautiful bouquet of flowers delivered in the rain, sent by my equally beautiful daughter all the way from the city. i wish the same peace of mind, safety and simple joys of life to everyone all over the world, especially to all my friends in palestine <3
