my day today: decided to walk to alma cafe (contemporary honduran cuisine) for brunch and walked about 30 minutes in hot nola weather (thank god i didn’t pass out). ordered some baleada sencilla – eggs, refried beans, cream, queso fresco, and avocado served on a homemade flour tortilla. the tortilla was splendid but too much parmesan on top – too salty for me. a slight detour to get a slice of blueberry and marzipan tart at petite clouet cafe. a short trip to lucullus antiques – nothing interesting and too pricey. in the afternoon a meet and greet for all the collage folx at artisan cafe and bar. i met some lovely artists from nyc, chicago, maine, new hampshire, portland, nebraska, etc. finally, a kolaj fest panel discussion at the new orleans museum of art. more about that in next post.
a beautiful evening spent with the brilliant madera who cooked me a lovely meal and welcomed me into her stunning home. madera’s work and passion revolve around recycling, conserving water and energy, transforming trash into beauty, crafting as a tribute to our grandmothers, and living lightly and kindly on this planet. i learn so much from her. what an amazing human!
I will be screening ‘Return to Sender: Women of Color in Colonial Postcards & the Politics of Representation’ and giving a talk at the New Orleans Museum of Art on Thursday, June 13th, 3:15-4:15 pm, as part of Kolaj Fest organized by the Kolaj Institute. New Orleans friends, pls join the discussion and come and say hello.
on june 22nd, 6-9pm, attend a gaza fundraiser in brooklyn organized by global feminists for palestine, AAWW and SAWCC at XENANA PROJECTS, 154 scott avenue, #317 in brooklyn. suheir hammad will be in the house! more on how to bid on this beautiful artwork by jaishri abichandani and buy tickets to the fundraiser here.
i want to scream. what is this effing world where burning and decapitating children, refugees living in tents, is ok? where the atlantic can publish a piece about ‘legally killed children’? where language has become so corrupted, so debased, that it is practically meaningless? where old white men can try weapons of mass destruction on the bodies of brown and black people and make billions while families burn? yet life goes on. we meet our friends, we hug our children. for hours, we forget the images we see on our phones. it shouldn’t be so. the world should be on fire. stop the annihilation of palestine. stop the massacres. stop the genocide. as ali abunimah said: ‘that the genocidal enemy can continue these atrocities hour after hour, day after day, is an indictment of the whole world. “israel” needs to be sealed off from humanity, sanctioned and blockaded to oblivion until it stops.’
cate blanchett wears a dress at an award ceremony with some of the colors of the palestinian flag and everyone is thankful. it’s so little, folx. so very little for someone with that kind of platform and privilege. celebrities, except for susan sarandon, are useless. they will risk nothing, not even a tiny role in a film or a random award, to speak out against genocide. tiktokers urging people to block celebrities have the right idea.
My IG account was hacked and deleted on April 9th this year. A kind of erasure. I will be recreating history off and on by digging into posts archived elsewhere by friends and collaborators. Here is one from @phototrouveemagazine
Spotlight on issue 12 featured artist Mara Ahmed @mara__ahmed. “My art practice focuses on crossing borders and dismantling political and cultural boundaries. I work in multiple disciplines and narrative formats to tell marginalized stories and build community. The personal and political are intertwined in my practice. For example, the experimental short film, Le Mot Juste (2021), which was selected for an exhibition by Chicago’s South Asia Institute, is a fusion of autobiography, film, and dance. It spotlights three languages: Urdu, French, and English. In the analog and digital collage series, This Heirloom (2012-2014) which has been widely exhibited in New York and California, I recreated my own history by using old black and white photographs sourced from my family archive. In conjunction with my NYSCA-funded film, Return to Sender: Women of Color in Colonial Postcards & the Politics of Representation (2023), I created three collages that subvert the colonial male gaze in found postcards from the British Raj (early 1900s). My aim was to rewrite history by relocating South Asian women from derelict studios, where they had been subjected to Orientalist fantasies, and reconnecting them to their roots. I placed the women in their native cities, adorned with architectural details and built with Indian textiles.”
happy mother’s day to my beautiful mom! a ravian who studied english literature at the prestigious government college lahore in the 1960s (tariq ali studied there at the same time), she always set the bar v high for all of us. love u ammi and thank u <3
a full day in rochester yesterday before i drove back home: with kate, carol and laura at spot coffee, some gupshup and tea with shahida, and finally a splendid home-cooked afghan dinner with the beautiful marzia and fatima <3
sunday: lovely breakfast with ted at hydra coffee, lunch at sinbad’s with andrea who is working on a fascinating project about river cultures and collective memory, a visit to ruth and russell’s old home on crosman terrace (russell’s garden looks as splendid as ever), finally, ‘newtown’ the play about sandy hook at geva theatre (thank u laura) with my friend muna, followed by some late night gupshup at java’s.
it was a full house! thank u rajesh, casey, muna, urvashi, hernease, and sumayia. thank u beautiful friends and community. to more enlightening art and conversations, but also more courage and action. we can learn so much from students risking everything to change this racist violent world.
it’s no secret that i love rochester! this morning i spent time with my brilliant friend ruhi – we had tea, talked about everything under the sun, and took a walk in her magical garden. back to zemeta’s ethiopian restaurant for lunch and then film testing at roc cinema – the film looks and sounds great! can’t wait for the premiere tomorrow at 12pm. went for a walk at highland park and felt transformed by its beauty. designed by the same guy who designed central park, it’s breathtaking in spring. spent the evening with my dear friend karen. her exhibition at anderson arts building, studio 402, is wonderful and i was lucky to receive one of her beautiful pieces <3 met my friend sarita outside the building:) now relaxing at my bnb before the big day tomorrow. hope to see u all roc friends!
Cathy Salibian: ‘To me, that is the evocative edge of “Return to Sender.” Yes, it’s gratifying to see a current generation of South Asian women take back their images and stories. It’s even more illuminating—and unsettling—when I take or view a photograph, to ask myself: What is going on here? Who is the viewer, who is the viewed? What assumptions and power dynamics are encoded in this artifact? What is my role in all of this? This is how Ahmed invites participation in the living edge of history.’
Brilliant film review in the Beacon. Pls join us for a Rochester premiere and community discussion on May 4, 12pm, at the Cinema.
Return to Sender: Women of Color in Colonial Postcards & the Politics of Representation is coming to Rochester, New York, on May 4th at 12pm.
The screening will be followed by a panelist discussion. Seating is limited. You can buy your tickets below.
PROGRAM DETAILS: Come join us for the Rochester premiere of Mara Ahmed’s Return to Sender, an afternoon of film & community discussion at ROC Cinema!
Return to Sender: Women of Color in Colonial Postcards & the Politics of Representation is a short, experimental film directed and produced by Mara Ahmed. This project was funded by a NYSCA grant. It pushes the documentary medium in unexpected ways by opening with three contemporary South Asian American women who recreate British colonial postcards from the early 20th century. Dressed in lavish traditional attire and jewelry and shot exquisitely in a darkened studio, the women emulate the awkward poses of the postcard women, only to subvert the colonial male gaze and acquire autonomy by choosing an action of their own. This symbolic ‘returning’ of the Orientalist gaze is layered with discussions about Eurocentric beauty standards, representations of South Asian women in media and culture, stereotypes, othering, identity and belonging. The film hopes to create community by facilitating conversations about erasure and the politics of representation.
Join us for an afternoon of movie magic at ROC Cinema. You will be transported into a world of early 20th century postcards and all the conversations they provoke. Be part of the discussion with panelists Urvashi Bhattacharya, Hernease Davis and Sumayia Islam, as well as Director Mara Ahmed. Don’t miss out on this exclusive event – mark your calendars now! See you there!
DATE: Saturday, May 4, 12:00 – 2:00 PM
VENUE: ROC Cinema (957 S Clinton Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620) is a luxury theater featuring the latest food trends, drinks, and first class entertainment. You’ll have an electrifying night, while watching a movie.
PANELISTS: Learn more about panelists Hernease Davis, Urvashi Bhattacharya and Sumayia Islam here.
FILM REVIEW: Read Cathy Salibian’s brilliant film review in the Rochester Beacon here.
