Category: travels

Art and film at UConn

Yesterday after a lecture about my art, activism and filmmaking, I had a rousing discussion with Kathryn’s art class. A Pakistani American student in particular asked tons of questions and made brilliant remarks, especially about her identity as a Muslim American and what it’s like to occupy the “spaces in between” – something I touched upon in my talk on borders and the polarity they produce.

Today I got to spend time with Shadia Heenan in her light-filled studio. She showed me her multimedia work which explores identity, her experience of Islam, and multiculturalism. She made us some real chai (with cardamom and evaporated milk) and we sat outside in the sun and chatted at length. I expect great things from her.

Finally, we screened A Thin Wall at 4pm. It was part of the ART+HUMAN RIGHTS film series at UConn and was followed by an interview with Kathryn who, as an artist and filmmaker herself, asked extremely nuanced and thoughtful questions. They are so insightful that I’ll post them on the film’s website. What a lovely time I’ve had in Connecticut 🙂




mara ahmed and shadia nilforoush

mara ahmed and kathryn myers

Lecture and Screening at UConn

Leaving for Connecticut early tomorrow morning. Will be giving a lecture about my entire body of work (art, activism, and filmmaking) on November 7th at UConn and then will be screening A Thin Wall on Nov 8th (4-6pm) at the Dodd Center, University of Connecticut, Storrs. The screening will be part of the Human Rights Film Series and will be followed by an interview with Art Professor Kathryn Myers. Pls join us if u’re in the area! Here’s more info.

Grand Central Station and shopping

Yesterday it drizzled all day so we did some shopping, starting with Warby Parker at Grand Central Station, and then a series of stores on Fifth Avenue. Although the entire process of large scale, dedicated consumerism quickly becomes soul-destroying for me (the grinding, mechanical music doesn’t help) it was cool that one of the sales assistants and I could talk about Dominican vs Pakistani food and that our Uber driver, called Ghulam, was wearing a crisp, freshly ironed cotton shalwar kameez 🙂 Had breakfast at Le Pain Quotidien – the tarte aux pommes reminded me of my mom’s baking, from a long time ago, and the Belgian hot chocolate was perfect. Dinner at Shake Shack here in midtown – yes, the smoky sweet cherry peppers are much better than lettuce and tomato. My son’s treat 🙂 Today we are taking the train back to Rochester. Will miss my son, will miss NY.

The Whitney and the High Line

Today the Whitney Museum of American Art and its beautiful city views. Started with Alexander Calder’s Hypermobility. Many of his gorgeous, delicately balanced sculptures were activated at certain times by the Museum and they danced elegantly, like three dimensional musical notes, producing ethereal shadows all around them. Hélio Oiticica’s installations were premised on the idea that artists need to be free to create – there were sandy beaches to explore barefoot, rooms filled with colorful projections, Jimi Hendrix music and fitted with hammocks for us to swing in, a pool table, and much more. Finally an Incomplete History of Protest had fantastic posters, videos and installations, all extremely relevant today. After the Whitney, my daughter and I walked along the High Line to get to Chelsea Market. Had some cheesecake at Sarabeth’s, looked at some of the artists’ stalls and then back to the hotel. The day ended with excellent Mexican food at El Rio Grande with both my kids 🙂

view from the whitney museum

alexander calder’s hypermobility

the whitney museum

an incomplete history of protest at the whitney

the high line

back in west hartford

went back after 17 years…

what a wonderful walk down memory lane. spent saturday in connecticut, where my husband did his medical residency and fellowship (at uconn), where both my kids were born, where i went to school and later worked for two multinationals.

a lot of downtown west harford looks the same – our first condo followed by our first house (a ranch), westfarms mall, wolcott park (where my husband and i used to study for our exams – him for his medical boards and i for my GMAT exam), noah webster’s house, the town hall and library, and some excellent restaurants (i remembered arugula, luna pizza and max oyester, and then further down on new britain avenue, tapas and my favorite entree – chicken mykonos :))

blue back square is completely new though – a hip shopping center with multistory apartments on top. as we drove towards farmington and the uconn health center, we saw the water reservoir/park where we used to go for walks.

my son was born at uconn health. some new buildings there as well. from there we drove to hartford hospital to show our daughter where she was born. as we approached the city, the kind of money and investment we had just seen in west hartford began to disappear. more trash, more decrepit buildings, more POCs – the segregation is breathtaking. we also went to see charter oak health center, which is located in an underserved area and where my husband worked for several years.

excellent brunch at effie’s in west hartford and then a lovely sumptuous dinner at vespa in amherst, where we ended up showing our daughter some liberal arts colleges. love new england.

burgoyne street

clover drive

uconn health

4th of july weekend in NJ

spending this long weekend with my brother and his fam in NJ. today, lunch at green papaya (a treat from my son’s first paycheck at his brand new job), followed by a long walk along the palisades and then some much needed ice cream. it feels like a sauna here!

trip to VA

in VA visiting my sis and her family. drove down here with my daughter and our little pup phoebe. such a beautiful drive. today i got to meet the brilliant Anu Ramdas, whom i had met many years ago in ithaca. we talked about feminism (within quotes), racist/casteist structures and patriarchy, islamophobia, the hijab, BLM, our work and fam, and much much more. i always wish i had taken notes after our conversations because they spark so many ideas. am thankful for all the wonderful people (and pups) in my life 🙂