spent the later part of the day at the dubai marina. walked around, had some afghan food for dinner, and loved the sound of the azaan as the sun began to set. it’s a sound i miss so much. it was our anniversary yesterday. we’ve lived longer with each other than without each other <3
i found my groove in dubai today. it’s called alserkal avenue. located in al quoz, halfway between old and new dubai, this contemporary art hub was created in 2008 by housing art spaces, galleries, internet cafes, and artist studios in existing warehouses and factory buildings. incidentally, i started with an exhibition that purports to lift the voices of kashmiri women thru photography and testimonies. it was awful. from the get-go. more about that later.
i want to share what i loved first: ‘for you mother’ by palestinian artist rula halawani. based on conversations with her mother about palestine and her words, “even when we die and leave this world, our spirits remain, floating in the skies of our country,” halawani has produced these beautifully haunted and haunting, large-scale photomontages, a “marriage between archival images of palestinian families before the 1948 mass diaspora and palestinian landscapes captured thru her lens.”
halawani is also interested in examining how palestinian landscapes have changed — the people and natural environment that disappeared and are still disappearing.
after all the touristy stuff, a lovely lebanese dinner with friends. thank u saman and kamran <3
today started with a big breakfast at karak house (famous for its karak chai – serious masala chai, not for the faint hearted) and then a tour of old dubai (established as a fishing village in the early 18th century). took a boat ride across dubai creek in the al seef neighborhood and visited some of the souks with our guide, hamza, who happens to be algerian. only 8% of the population is considered local (with access to citizenship, free healthcare, free education and much else), the remaining 92% are foreigners who can never become citizens or enjoy the same benefits. yet they seem to be running this country…
on the flight from JFK to dubai, i saw ‘decision to leave.’ beautifully crafted by park chan-wook, it’s a slippery film, hard to pin down or categorize. it’s romance, mystery, crime, and detective story. it’s about obsessions, repetitions, imaginings, watching and being watched, recordings, replays, metaphors, poetry, death, murder, desire, and fantasy. it slides back and forth in time and space, even in language and translation (chinese and korean). an evasive, fatalistic, seductive film that takes its time (2 hours 18 min). makes me long for richer, more challenging and inventive filmmaking and storytelling than what we see celebrated in the US.
what i’ve liked so far: the diversity and how children-friendly the city is.
view from our apt in dubai. 67 F and super sunny.
friends, i will be in karachi for a few days towards the end of february, after many many years (u can probably tell by the hair in this picture). pls let me know if u’d like to connect. send me a message and i’ll let u know when we can get together.
so much love for and solidarity with the people of turkey and syria <3
image: contemporary turkish artist selma gurbuz. shadow, 2016
—Rafia Zakaria in her book Against White Feminism, which articulates (oh so succinctly) so many of my own thoughts and experiences. A must read for women of color.
the aggression of white self-righteousness about how exactly to ‘save’ the other. the confidence/ arrogance to voice most clearly what’s good for the rest of us. still pisses me off, even now with all my efforts at being more mellow and not canceling people too much.
Thanks to Shadab Zeest Hashmi for including my artwork in Pratik Magazine: South Asian Writing Special Issue. This beautiful issue is now available on Amazon.com, and it includes two digital collages by yours truly.
spending the weekend with my wonderful sister, niece, children, and the lively little loulou <3
I am beyond thrilled to share that I have been awarded a NYSCA (New York State Council on the Arts) grant for my project “Return to Sender: Women of Color in Colonial Postcards and the Politics of Representation.” This project will involve a short film, an art exhibition, artist talks, and a community discussion led by three women of color. The film premiere will be at Cinema Arts Centre in Huntington, NY, on Oct 1st this year.
There are so many amazing people to thank: first of all, Patty Eljaiek at Huntington Arts Council, Inc. without whose encouragement I wouldn’t have applied for this grant and whose consistent support was invaluable; Emily Dowd, Kieran Johnson and everyone at @huntingtonarts; Stephanie Gotard at @huntingtonhistoricalsociety who is my community partner (and my biggest cheerleader); Dylan Toombs who shot the footage for the film with dazzling artistry; Boris Sapozhnikov for additional cinematography; the beautiful and talented Fatimah Arshad, Urvashi Bhattacharya, and Sumayia Islam who are the stars of the film; Rajesh Barnabas and Darien Lamen who will be helping with postproduction; Nia Adams, Madeline Churney, and Farhana Islam for agreeing to lead a post-screening discussion; Jeremy Dennis for being open to a screening at Ma’s House & BIPOC Art Studio; and finally, Dylan Skolnik and René Bouchard for a film premiere and discussion at Cinema Arts Centre in spite of many complications.
Also trying to get a student intern from Stony Brook’s Women’s and Gender Studies dept to curate the art exhibition — thank you to the faculty there.
I will write more about the film, but for now I want to thank all my people — everyone who has worked with me, believed in me, and inspired me. Love you all!
This project is made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrant Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by The Huntington Arts Council, Inc.
Greta Niu: I just don’t want to lose sight of what makes up the microaggressions. It is implicit biases around race or ethnicity or gender or gender expression or class or size or disability. Those are the pieces that we’ve been fighting and we have always been fighting against. I don’t want people to think we are done with that. Now all we have to deal with are these microaggressions. The fact is, it’s a whole continuum of behaviors that are harmful, from a little poke to physical violence.
Photograph by Rajesh Barnabas
