Category: art

Book readings at the Xenana in Brooklyn


What an amazing evening at Pyaari Azaadi’s Xenana where Mona Eltahawy, @brooklynstani, and Yashica Dutt read from their books

Mona has put together an anthology of essays and stories about menopause (Bloody Hell!: Adventures in Menopause From Around the World), Roohi has written an important novel called Outside Women (“Combining the reach of a historical saga with the propulsion of a mystery, Roohi Choudhry’s tightly woven debut illustrates the power of sisterhood, legacy, and solidarity through the unforgettable stories of two defiant women living a century apart”) and Yashica read from her powerful memoir, Coming Out as Dalit: A Memoir of Surviving India’s Caste System
There was a lot of talk about being feminists so I asked a question about white feminism and the use of the English word ‘feminism’ in a Muslim, South Asian, Dalit context

Mona talked about niswiyya in Arabic as being a word she likes but how she’s comfortable using ‘feminism’ in English, Roohi spoke about reclaiming the word, and Yashica talked about how the word feminism is inaccessible to Dalits in India, how it is housed in circles with upper caste women who wear khadi and chunky jewelry and spout off feminist theories. Her own mother wouldn’t identify herself as a feminist but embodies the essence of what feminism is supposed to be. I loved this idea of embodiment vs western/ upper caste-centric language. The upper caste feminists Yashica described are very familiar to me and occupy a similar position of privilege in Pakistan. Yashica said she is more comfortable talking about being part of the movement for Dalit women’s rights and Dalit rights in general. That is my preference too – I see myself as an activist invested in community and the fight for social justice

I met the wonderful @mariam.rauf at this event and was talking to her about using the word feminism in the plural which makes it more palatable I think. There is no one struggle, no one path, no one feminism. The instinct to corral diverse movements, realities and histories under one universal term/ approach/ syntax/ even ‘look’ is very much a colonial imperative that we must resist

Thank u @safia and pyaari <3

Rough cut for The Injured Body


I finished the rough cut for The Injured Body last night!!! A film about racism in America inspired by Claudia Rankine’s book, Citizen: An American Lyric, with her permission to use her words.

Interviews and convos with 17 women of color, each breathtakingly brilliant and beautiful. 10 gorgeous dancers, 3 choreographers and one photographer – all women.

Stunning cinematography by Rajesh Barnabas, inventive choreography and costume design by Mariko Yamada, and unique musical compositions by Tom Davis

We shot the first interview for this film in 2018. Much has changed in the country (and in the world) since then and much has remained the same. What the film has to share is as important as ever, perhaps critical now.

It took me a while to get here but as I began to stitch the story together on my computer, I realized how much work I had already done over the years – the many transcriptions, notes, timelines, organization and reorganization of material, the consistent editing (interview by interview) to highlight ideas and create video clips in countless sequences and much more.

We finished shooting in 2020 and for the last 5 years the film has been with me, close to me, a part of me. Emotions took over as I watched the entire rough cut – for the enormity of what we have all accomplished together but also for the love and solidarity I feel for all the women in this film. I love what I do – how profoundly it’s connected to other people, and what it allows me to think and feel. A little bit of beauty in the surreal horrors of this world.

The film will premiere on Friday November 14th at Cinema Arts Centre in Huntington, NY. It will come to Rochester in 2026 inshallah!

[Photo taken by me of María José Rodríguez-Torrado in the opening dance sequence for the film]

Return to Sender at Unity Gallery


Screenings of Return to Sender in New York, along with Aashish Kumar’s work and Surbhi Sahni’s gourmet food, are already sold out!

But I will be giving a talk and screening the film again at Unity Gallery, Neurology Department, University of Rochester, for their Continuing Medical Education (CME) grand rounds on April 2, 12-1pm. A companion art exhibition, curated by Shawn Dunwoody, will open simultaneously at Unity Gallery ?

If you would like to attend via Zoom or in person, pls contact Jessica:

JessicaB_Cruz@URMC.Rochester.edu

Hope to see you then!

my review: emilia perez

about emilia perez and zoe saldana’s comments (i don’t care about the oscars but i do care about mainstream culture – i am a filmmaker – and i care about representation)

the film is not about universal women (wtf is that??? when u casually toss together israeli women and women from gaza, u are basically puncturing ur own ridiculous argument about universal feminism)

the film is about mexico – its fingerprints are all over intimate socio-political issues and tragedies which the west facilitates via its war on drugs and miscellaneous trade and political finagling and by which it then proceeds to mark and measure mexico

that the film was shot in a studio in paris, that its spanish dialogue sounds like it was spewed by google translate, that its protagonists are not mexican for the most part, that this is a big budget film by a european filmmaking giant who could have hired a couple of consultants, and that this orientalist representation (which comes from a place of arrogance, entitlement and power) is happening today in 2025, all seem incredible frankly. that there is tone deaf pushback against valid critiques made by mexican journalists, culture-makers and people is also stunning – u make films about us but we’re not supposed to have opinions about them?

trans activists have written extensively about how trans representation in this film is a step backwards, not forward, so there’s that. finally, the entire carla sofia gascon twitter blowup only shows how whiteness (and european christian supremacy) can transcend everything – including transness and questions of sex and gender

Screening of A Thin Wall in Bangalore

A Thin Wall is coming to Bangalore! Bangalore Film Society in collaboration with the Indian Institute of World Culture is organizing a three day film festival from February 11 to 13, 2025 from 11am to 5pm at the Indian Institute of World Culture Auditorium, in Bangalore. The festival is non-commercial and non-ticketed, themed around celebrating pluralism, primarily aimed at inviting films that beautifully illustrate how diverse cultural, ethnic, mainstream, and indigenous identities come together to create a more inclusive and harmonious/cohesive society.




Return to Sender is coming to Islamabad

I am thrilled to announce that my film, Return to Sender, will be screened in Islamabad as part of the Margalla Film Festival on Feb 16th! It’s always an honor to present my work in Pakistan and engage with people in the Global Majority. I will give a short artist talk and we will have a convo afterwards of course. I went to high school in Islamabad so it’s an important part of my life and journey. The venue for the film festival and my screening is the Black Hole, a wonderful space that invites discussions on art, culture, science, and politics. They have already shown A Thin Wall, my film about the partition of India, so I look forward to working with them again. Thank you Osama Malik for being such a brilliant organizer and for supporting my work. Friends, if you are in Islamabad, pls join us – this event is free and open to the public!

Return to Sender at Unity Gallery

So happy that the art exhibition ‘Return to Sender: Women of Color in Colonial Postcards & the Politics of Representation’ is opening on Monday (tomorrow) at Unity Gallery, Dept of Neurology, University of Rochester! It’s curated by the brilliant Shawn Dunwoody

‘An art exhibition by artist Mara Ahmed, inspired by her film of the same name, features photographs and digital collages that offer deeper historical context and expand on the themes explored in both the film and the exhibition.’

There will be an Artist Reception on April 2, 2025, 1:00pm – 3:00pm
Exhibit runs January 27 – April 19, 2025
Gallery Hours: M-F 11-4
For more info: theunitygallery.com

a knock on the roof

saw this amazing one-woman play off broadway last night. written and performed by khawla ibraheem, a playwright, actor and director from majdal shams, in the occupied golan heights, the play tells the story of a woman and her family trying to survive a war. although written in 2017 about another war in gaza (there have been countless), resonance with the present genocide charges the play with so much more meaning and emotion. the story starts with everyday life, which continues even as bombings form a kind of unhinged backdrop, but builds up to something obsessive and paranoid. how to plan an escape after the first “knock on the roof,” when smaller bombs are dropped on one’s building to indicate upcoming annihilation. one has 5-15 minutes to assemble loved ones, pick up the bare necessities, rush down the stairs (no electricity), and sprint as far away from the building as possible. 5-15 minutes. madness. what does one pack, how does one wake up a drowsy child and aging mother and ready them for escape, how fast and far can one run while holding on to the most precious possessions of one’s life? as mariam dedicates every passing hour to practicing and mastering the perfect escape, we see snippets of her childhood, her marriage to omar who is finishing his master’s degree abroad, her childhood dreams, and adult frustrations. the play becomes darker as tension builds to a crescendo and mariam begins to disintegrate. the end takes one’s breath away. there were audible reactions in the audience – people wept as the lights came back on. a stunning physical and emotional feat. at new york theatre workshop until february 16, 2025.

Return to Sender at the Arts + Change Conference

This is happening on Thursday (7pm) this week! Watch ‘Return to Sender: Women of Color in Colonial Postcards & the Politics of Representation’ for free, on Zoom, at the Arts + Change Conference

I will give a thought-provoking intro to the film and we will also have a post-screening discussion. All you need to do is to register for the session.

It’s cold outside but we can have a vibrant community event online. Hope to see you then!

my review: conclave

so about the film ‘conclave,’ which is generating oscar buzz. i was excited to see it when it came out because of the cast – ralph fiennes, isabella rossellini, stanley tucci, john lithgow – all actors i like. the setting of the film is interesting. most of the action happens during a conclave – an assembly of cardinals who self-segregate until they’ve appointed a new pope. remember the smoke rising from the sistine chapel, signaling that the next pope has been elected? that selection comes out of a conclave.

as i’m watching the film, i’m thinking to myself how wonderful it is to see this thriller with these masterful actors set in a completely different context, constructed with meticulous replicas of the vatican and full of elaborate costumes and rituals. v catholic of course.

towards the end of the film, there is an explosion in the midst of the conclave. there’s a hole in the building where the voting is taking place, with debris and pulverized dust everywhere. the camera begins to shoot at an angle, ralph fiennes is hurt, we feel disoriented.

my first thought is: it’s a dream. fiennes is under stress so he’s imagining the end of days. no such luck. this is actually happening. we soon find out that this is a terrorist attack – a suicide bombing to be more exact – which triggers a disgusting islamophobic rant from one of the cardinals: “we can never work with muslims, they are animals.”

at this point i say to myself: “this can’t be. they will probably reveal that the attack was the work of some christian sect or extremist group. they’ll flip it.” nope. the bombing is immediately assumed to be a muslim thing and that gut reaction is proven to be right.

now i’m thinking: “there will be strong pushback, this cannot be allowed to pass.” in fact, there is some pushback by one of the cardinals, but it’s not political. it’s simply meaningless generalities about not hating anyone (even suicide bombers).

for a film about catholics, taking place in the vatican, where the central theme is the election of a pope, this bit of last minute anti-muslim racism is so arbitrary. or is it? in the midst of a live streamed genocide of mostly muslim people, with propaganda deployed to invert reality and turn the killers into victims, perhaps every film that comes out has to fulfill a certain quota of islamophobia, even if it’s a side story randomly added at the end. my husband and i paid $20 per person to see this bs at a movie theater. it’s hard to tell what’s what when we are picking films. there are racist traps embedded in every bit of western culture.

The Injured Body coming in November

As many of my friends know, I’ve been working for a while now on ‘The Injured Body,’ a feature length documentary about racism in America inspired by Claudia Rankine’s book of poems called ‘Citizen: An American Lyric.’

Well, I’m back on the project and already have a date for the film’s premiere – November 14th at Cinema Arts Center in Huntington, NY!

For years, friends and colleagues have urged me to contact Claudia Rankine and tell her about the film. It made sense. Yet I kept procrastinating.

I am not impressed by celebrities, politicians or rich dudes, but I’ve always been starstruck by Ms. Rankine. The beauty and brilliance of her mind, the simplicity and precision of her language, the ease and lyricism with which she captures the subtleties in our day to day interactions with each other, are all extraordinary.

Now that I have a deadline and am pressed for time, I found Ms. Rankine’s email (her assistant’s to be exact) and asked if I could use some of her words as text in the film. My work is interdisciplinary and so it crosses many boundaries between art, literature, politics, and philosophical writing. ‘Citizen’ is at the heart of this film. I didn’t overthink and just sent the email along with a link to the trailer.

Today I got an email from her assistant telling me how wonderful the film sounds and saying, “Of course, Claudia is willing to have her words used in this way.” No fees. No need to contact the publisher. Just “quoted with the permission of the author.”

Are you kidding me? Is this for real? I’m so excited for this project!

[Photograph of Ayni Ali by Arleen Thaler]

Going to Lahore

Going to Lahore for three weeks in February, but one needs a lifetime to explore its rich history and culture. It was the capital of the Mughal Empire under Akbar and later, like Paris, became home to some of South Asia’s best known writers and intellectuals. They would congregate at Pak Tea House, the birthplace of the Progressive Writers’ Association and its left wing politics. Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Ibn-e-Insha, Ahmed Faraz, Saadat Hasan Manto, Sahir Ludhianvi, Amrita Pritam, Munshi Premchand, Krishan Chander, Ismat Chughtai, Muneer Niazi, Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi, Habib Jalib, Kaifi Azmi, Intezar Hussain, Rajinder Singh Bedi, Ustad Amanat Ali Khan and many more. What would it have been like to live in Lahore in those days.

Watched a beautiful video of NCA by @maliknaveedpgotography:

Different Views of National College of Arts in Lahore

The institute was originally founded in 1876 as the Mayo School of Industrial Arts and was one of the two arts colleges established by the British in British India. It was named in honor of the British Viceroy Lord Mayo. Kipling became the school’s first principal and was also appointed as the first curator of the Lahore Museum which opened the same year in an adjacent building. In 1958, the school was renamed the National College of Arts and Mian Barkat Ali was appointed principal. [The brilliant NYC-based artist Shahzia Sikander is from NCA]