one day in nyc

was in nyc for just one day but got to see ‘walden’ with emmy rossum at the second stage theater, had dinner with arseniy (a dear friend from back home in rochester), spent time with my daughter, walked around battery park, and had palestinian food at ayat (the new location in manhattan) where the muhammarah is simply out of this world. walden is a play about the future, a time when climate catastrophe is being used as an excuse to colonize other planets and EAs (earth advocates) are seen as these bizarre people who continue to be invested in planet earth, oppose colonization and the destruction of indigenous life, suspect technology, stay away from screens, and are committed as a community to reducing their carbon footprint. there is a love triangle in the forefront of the story but the backdrop is hyper pertinent. out of all the emotions i felt throughout the play, the one that hit me hardest was when we witness some kind of dangerous geomagnetic storm that can damage humans, animals and plants. it felt too close. it was frightening.

Recognizing the Stranger: On Palestine and Narrative by Isabella Hammad

Last night I finished reading Isabella Hammad’s Recognizing the Stranger: On Palestine and Narrative.

The first section of the book is based on her speech for the Edward Said Memorial Lecture at Columbia University in September 2023. It’s a speech that’s remarkably erudite, as Rashid Khalidi has said, with references to the work of Edward Said of course but also Aristotle, Freud, Kanafani, Wynter, Lindqvist, Darwish, Ferrante and many more. The tone is calm, analytical, cerebral. I felt immense joy reading it for I was privy to an extraordinary process of sculpting with words, carving ideas and connections ever so gently until a flawless shape is achieved.

From Between the Covers Podcast: ‘[Hammad] looks at the middle of narratives, at turning points, recognition scenes and epiphanies; which explores the intersection of aesthetics and ethics, words and actions, and the role of the writer in the political sphere; and which complicates the relationship between self and other, the familiar and the stranger.’

Certain paragraphs brought tears to my eyes, as there was a shock of recognition. For example this: ‘Rather than recognizing the stranger as familiar, and bringing a story to its close, Said asks us to recognize the familiar as stranger. He gestures at a way to dismantle the consoling fictions of fixed identity, which make it easier to herd into groups. This might be easier said than done, but it’s provocative—it points out how many narratives of self, when applied to a nation-state, might one day harden into self-centered intolerance. Narrative shape can comfort and guide our efforts, but we must eventually be ready to shape-shift, to be decentered, when the light of an other appears on the horizon in the project of human freedom, which remains undone.’

The speech was delivered a few days before October 7th, before the genocide. Earlier this year, in January 2024, Hammad wrote an afterword to the speech, which occupies a third of the book. The style of writing has changed, it’s now direct, urgent, political, based on numbers and dates. It’s full of questions. She sees the proximity of humanism to European colonialism and colonial violence. It’s as if Hammad has reached her own turning point, her own scene of recognition. I was choked with emotion as I read the last part of the book, I took many notes so I could re-read paragraphs like this:

‘In his essay on Shatila, [Jean] Genet speaks extensively of the beauty of the Palestinians, who remind him of the beauty of the Algerians when they rose against the French. He describes it as “a laughing insolence goaded by past unhappiness, systems and men responsible for unhappiness and shame, above all a laughing insolence which realizes that, freed of shame, growth is easy.” The Palestinians in Gaza are beautiful. The way they care for each other in the face of death puts the rest of us to shame. Wael Dahdouh, the Al Jazeera journalist who, when his family members were killed, kept on speaking to camera, stated recently with a calm and miraculous grace: “One day this war will stop, and those of us who remain will return and rebuild, and live again in these houses.”’

Reclaiming Death: Art, Ritual, and Advocacy at End of Life

Last Friday I had the honor of spending some time with the brilliant (and extremely generous) @briannalhb who gave me a private tour of “Reclaiming Death: Art, Ritual, and Advocacy at End of Life, a group exhibition featuring Jeremy Dennis, Jenie Gao, Brianna L. Hernandez, Jonathan Herrera Soto, Resham Mantri, mk, Nirmal Raja, Denise Silva-Dennis, Adrienne Terry, and A young Yu in collaboration with Nicholas Oh. Each participating artist presents personal and culturally significant methods of relating to grief and death in ways that are healing and connected to heritage.” The exhibition challenges western ideas of death and mourning. In Brianna’s words, as the exhibition’s curator: “In a social atmosphere where death is primarily avoided or otherwise presented through platitudes and euphemisms, translating death from heritage and lived experiences is vital in honoring the vastness of end-of-life practices and our inextricably tied humanity.” Reclaiming death can be seen until November 30. Pls contact the venue to arrange a viewing. It’s at Ma’s House & BIPOC Art Studio, a communal art space led by Indigenous artist Jeremy Dennis and based on the Shinnecock Indian Reservation in Southampton. Here are a few images but one truly needs to be immersed in this important exhibit.

friends premiere their film

it’s been a busy weekend. with the premiere of ‘being black in america’ by @voicesproj @jackiephotographyroc at the voices rising film festival @lovewinsfilms in islip on saturday and a lovely get together/lunch at our house followed by a walk at the beach with our rochester fam on sunday. so good to see u @jackiemcgriff @bycocoarae and @taurussavant

Repair as architectural ethos

From THE GREAT REPAIR MOVES NORTH, an exhibition at the Form/Design Center in Malmo, Sweden, which focuses on the conflict between ecological balance and uncontrolled growth and advocates a new architectural ethos centered around repair. What we are seeing in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and other parts of the world is not just an attempt to exterminate people but also entire knowledge worlds.

Nikolaj Kunsthal – a modern art gallery

Loved the work of Katherine Aertebjerg and Ovartaci at the Nikolaj Kunsthal, a unique modern art gallery inside the former St. Nicholas Church.

In their artwork “imagination is a tool of joy, creativity and liberation, but also the source of dark and angst-ridden sides of the complex human mind. For both artists spirituality, gender, identity, sexuality and transformation are central to their art and way of seeing the world. Both of them also suspend the boundaries between inner and outer worlds in works featuring composite figures of animals and people. Although of different generations, Aertebjerg and Ovartaci approach art as an existential investigation of life.”

my artwork exhibited in nyc

my artwork was exhibited for the first time in new york city, at ideal glass studios in the west village – a digital collage i created in concert with my short film, return to sender: women of color in colonial postcards & the politics of representation. i was one of 20 artists whose work was selected. the opening was last night and it was spectacular. met some wonderful people. am thankful to @tenten.nyc for showcasing my work and hope to collab more:)

an evening of poetry and music

some pictures from imagine palestine: an evening of poetry readings and music to raise funds for gaza at the @swedgemission in #rochesterny. a space full of beautiful people who shared visions of freedom for palestine, and stunning palestinian poetry in conversation with live music. a full house where we were able to raise thousands for the gaza municipality.

the struggle to decolonize is something special. it creates love and solidarity between complete strangers. it builds community <3

this will be a series of events to support and celebrate gaza and palestine. stay tuned!

organized by @unabridged.roc, mara ahmed and matthew mcdonald

see u at imagine palestine

good morning rochester! i am back and so looking forward to imagine palestine, an evening of poetry readings and music to raise funds for gaza, today at 7pm at the south wedge mission in rochester, ny. 12 artists and activists, 4 musicians, 7 poems by palestinian poets, multiple visions of palestinian futures, the reading of a beloved classic by a resistance writer, and a unique juxtaposition of silence for gaza by mahmoud darwish and musical reflections. all of it to come together in one space and provide mutual aid to the gaza municipality which is doing essential work at this moment. the event is free but pls come ready to donate and intervene in systems of oppression. see u at 7pm this evening!

Living Water for Women

So proud to attend the opening of my friend Safia’s photography exhibition at the Glen Cove Public Library yesterday! Here is more about her brilliant project:

“Living Water for Women is a halfway house located in Glen Cove, NY that fosters growth and independence for formerly incarcerated women to overcome their addictions. In 2016 l established biweekly art workshops at the home. At each session we use art as means of communication and expression. In this process, stories are shared, tears are often shed, and an important community has been created. These women are often shunned and forgotten by their families, friends, and society. They have important stories to share to help those who might also be struggling with addiction, mental health issues, and jobs. By combining portraits with transcribed interviews, I hope to both empower these women and raise awareness about addiction.“

Imagine Palestine: An evening of poetry readings and music to raise funds for Gaza

Friends, as you know settler colonial violence has reached shocking levels in Gaza, with non-stop bombings and massacres for the past 10 months.

Gaza’s infrastructure has been systematically destroyed which means that along with starvation (on account of the food and water blockade), deadly epidemics are also setting in. The poliovirus has been found in sewage water now flowing freely in Gaza.

The Gaza Municipality provides water, sanitation and sewage management, waste collection, the removal of debris and reopening of key thoroughfares to facilitate movement, and aid to personnel doing heroic emergency work. They have started a fundraiser and are trying to raise a million dollars. They still have a long way to go. Let’s support them.

At this gathering, we hope to imagine Palestine beyond the ongoing horrors. Fanon said: “The settler’s work is to make dreams of liberty impossible for the native.” Let’s challenge such temporal control and envision Palestinian futures free of Zionist settler domination.

We will read poetry by Palestinian poets and writers, some of them iconic, others still relatively young. We will listen to music that will frame beautiful words of hope and resistance, and inspire us to visualize freedom for Palestine.

This is a free event where we will invite everyone to donate directly to the Gaza Municipality. Let’s articulate a just future in the face of imperial death cults – it’s a radical act!

Organized by Unabridged Literary Arts, Matthew McDonald and myself/ Warp & Weft Archive. Join us!

a garish spectacle in paris

i will not watch the olympics when an apartheid state in the process of exterminating palestinian children is allowed to participate and flaunt its genocidal talents. but the images i’ve seen so far are from a dystopian novel, full of garish spectacle including a bloody, guillotined head. so disorienting/ nauseating when i’m also watching footage of medics in gaza collecting the soot-covered head of a little girl and placing it gently into a body bag next to her tiny beheaded body. this and then reading ridiculously servile posts from fb liberals about joe biden’s shining legacy and patriotic sacrifice. what a violently racist, warped world we live in folx. the west is a lurid collective death cult. ceasefire now.

dialogue: a personal exploration of trauma related dissociation through song

so happy to attend my friend rene bouchard’s ‘dialogue: a personal exploration of trauma related dissociation through song’ at @industrymakers, a fantastic space for the arts in huntington, new york. rene writes songs and music, creates short films and animated collages, produces gorgeous artwork, and has the courage to talk about complex post traumatic stress disorder openly and visibly. brava rene <3