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
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
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.
Thrilled to announce that I will be presenting virtually on Jan 23, 2025 (7pm) at the Arts + Change Conference organized by the University of Rochester Institute for the Performing Arts.
We will screen my short film, Return to Sender: Women of Color in Colonial Postcards & the Politics of Representation. If you haven’t seen it yet, you can catch this free online screening. I will introduce the film by breaking down some of its themes e.g. colonial representations and narrative control through images and culture. There will be time for Q & A of course:)
Please don’t forget to register for the conference and hope to see you in Jan!
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:)
our beautiful speakers, musicians, artists, organizers, and audience members at imagine palestine on aug 23, 2024. thank u muna, dina, andrea, hernease, lamisa, matt, molly, jennifer, megan, rashaad, michelle, jackie, wegdan, halima, and rachel <3
photo credit: elizabeth chiang and mara ahmed
so grateful for beautiful people in this world who can come together, almost at the last minute, and create small disruptions (with ripple effects – always ripple effects) in systems of imperial power and destruction. thank u rachel crawford and matt mcdonald for being my compadres. more pictures from ‘imagine palestine’ soon!
photo credit: elizabeth chiang
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
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!
Dear friends, please donate directly to the Gaza Municipality via this link:
Life for Gaza
“The Gaza Municipality is tasked with providing vital services such as water supply, waste management and sewage treatment. However, the widespread destruction in Gaza City has severely hampered the Municipality’s ability to deliver even the most basic necessities to its residents. With limited access to water, the population faces a dire health and environmental crisis, especially affecting children.
By joining forces in this initiative, we cultivate hope and solidarity, fostering empathy and collaboration across communities while easing the hardships endured by those in Gaza. This collective effort reassures Gazans that they are not alone in their struggle. The Gaza Municipality earnestly appeals for your support to help reinstate essential services, currently the foremost priority. In the northern regions of the Gaza Strip alone, over 500,000 individuals urgently require these services.”
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!
almost 10 years ago! my essay in post magazine, a wonderful publication that doesn’t exist anymore sadly. they gave me free rein to write whatever i wanted and had me photographed in my studio.
last post about kolaj fest new orleans: wanted to say something about my presentation and the screening of ‘return to sender: women of color in colonial postcards & the politics of representation.’
i started with a 20 min talk in which i expanded on some of the themes that are discussed in the film: the male gaze, the colonial lens, orientalism and the work of edward said, epistemicide and the work of ramon grosfoguel, photography as a tool of colonial surveys and expansion, white feminism, and of course palestine. i wasn’t sure of the reaction as my work digs deep into uncomfortable histories and racist systems, but i couldn’t have hoped for a better response. that many of the people in the audience were artists and scholars helped spark a vibrant discussion, but what meant most to me was what i heard from women, many of them women of color. there were a lot of tears and emotion, hugs and sharing. this is what art is for me: a way to interface and create community. thank u once again to the kolaj institute and all the wonderful people who attended 
photographs by @eisenbergpitman
Here is a recap of a project I’ve been working on since December last year.
The Warp & Weft audio archive came together in 2020 as a way to connect people from across the world during a global pandemic that caused untold loss and grief.
It is an ongoing project that allows diverse people (separated by arbitrary political borders) to share their stories and feel a sense of collective power.
In December 2023 we launched the next phase of this project. In the midst of the gruesome genocide in Gaza, people from around the world are welcome to join us in reading, holding up, and sharing the voices and stories of Palestinian writers and poets.
This is an open archive, so contact us if you would like to contribute a reading and pls follow us on Instagram: @WarpAndWeftArchive
Rajesh Barnabas wrote a piece about this project for Boomtown Press back in January:
‘Sometimes it seems trivial to be reciting poetry at a time of genocide. It can feel like a stunning privilege. But it’s also an act of resistance that goes hand in hand with protests and activist actions. As the Palestinian poet George Abraham has said: “Poetry can’t stop a bullet. Poetry won’t free a prisoner. And that’s why we need to do the political organizing work as well. But if we can’t imagine a free liberated world in language, how can we build one?”’
Read full article here.
my day today, june 13th, as a series of non-linear moments: lunch at blue oak BBQ with artists phil and debi, a sketch of yours truly by the wonderful @stitchpixie who drew me as i spoke, the screening of ‘return to sender’ + my talk which introduced some of its themes + a brilliant and moving community discussion at the new orleans museum of art, the spectacular madera during a symposium on saving the planet, collage on screen at istanbul cafe, and hanging out with artists julie, diane and robin afterwards. wanted to listen to some jazz but decided to retire for the night. maybe tomorrow.
