Photographer, Writer, Curator, & Human Rights Activist
Bangladesh

www.shahidulalam.com
www.about.me/shahidul
www.shahidulnews.com
www.instagram.com/shahidul001
www.flickr.com/photos/91797069@N08
www.twitter.com/shahidul
www.facebook.com/shahidul.alam001
www.facebook.com/ShahidulAlamBangladesh
www.linkedin.com/in/shahidul
plus.google.com/+shahidulalam1
www.youtube.com/user/shahidul1
vimeo.com/shahidul
www.rebelmouse.com/Shahidul_Alam
xeeme.com/ShahidulAlam
www.pinterest.com/shahidul001

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Past Projects

www.shahidulalam.com
www.shahidulnews.com/crossfire
www.shahidulnews.com/eighteen

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What book or artist’s work has been most influential on you?

Mr. Tompkins in Paperback by Charles Gamow and The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

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Biography 

A photographer, writer, curator and activist, Shahidul Alam obtained a PhD in chemistry at London University before switching to photography. He returned to his hometown Dhaka in 1984, where he photographed the democratic struggle to remove General Ershad. A former president of the Bangladesh Photographic Society, Alam set up the award winning Drik agency, the Bangladesh Photographic Institute and Pathshala, the South Asian Media Institute, considered one of the finest schools of photography in the world. Director of the Chobi Mela festival and chairman of Majority World agency, Alam’s work has been exhibited in MOMA in New York, the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, the Royal Albert Hall and Tate Modern in London and The Museum of Contemporary Arts in Tehran. He has been a guest curator of the Whitechapel Gallery, the Musee de Quai Branly and the Brussels Biennale. Alam’s numerous photographic awards include the Mother Jones and the Howard Chapnick Awards and the Open Society Institute Audience Engagement Grant.

A speaker at numerous universities including, Harvard, Stanford and UCLA, in the US; Oxford and Cambridge universities in the UK as well as National Geographic, Pop Tech and TedX events, Alam has been a jury member in prestigious international contests, including World Press Photo, which he chaired, and Prix Pictet, chaired by Kofi Annan. He is also a regular jury member of the World Blogging Contest. An Honorary Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society, Alam is a visiting professor of Sunderland University in the UK. He is on the advisory board of the National Geographic Society and the Eugene Smith Fund. His recent book “My Journey as a witness” was listed in the “Best Photo Books of 2011” by American Photo. Former picture editor of Life Magazine John Morris considers the book “The most important book ever written by a photographer.” “Birth Pangs of a Nation” edited by Alam, was voted the best book of 2012 at the Asian Publishing Convention.

Artist
UAE

www.ammaralattar.com
www.twitter.com/ammarmak
www.instagram.com/ammaralattar

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Past Projects

Prayer Rooms
Sibeel Water

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What book or artist’s work has been most influential on you?

Stephen Shore

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Biography

Ammar Al Attar (1981) was born in Dubai and lives and works in Ajman. He carries a Masters in International Business from Dubai’s University of Wollongong, and a Bachelors in Business Information Technology from Dubai’s Higher Colleges of Technology. He has attended local and international photography courses. His work has been shown throughout the UAE, and in the Thessaloniki Museum in Greece. He has been selected for the 2013 Artist in Residence (A.i.R.) program, a partnership between Art Dubai, London’s Delfina Foundation, the Dubai Culture & Arts Authority and Tashkeel. Archiving his surrounding is the main aim or sometimes he conceder his destiny as a photographer, his photography is recording the changes happens around us mainly in UAE. Sometimes he goes to places that still keep the originality of itself, and people keep their humble habits that they grown up and capture them. As an artist he mainly uses the form of photography to express the messages Ammar wants to deliver. Ammar sees in photography a true recording of changes in our life through the years. The bigger Aim for Ammar is to archive all these photos and keep them as an visual history archive for UAE.

Assistant Professor, Social Research & Public Policy NYUAD
Saudi Arabia UAE

nyuad.nyu.edu/en/academics/faculty/may-al-dabbagh.html

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Biography 

May Abdallah Al-Dabbagh is an Assistant Professor of Social Research and Public Policy at New York University Abu Dhabi with an associated appointment at the Robert Wagner School of Public Service at NYU in New York. Previously, she was the Founder and Director of the Gender and Public Policy Program at the Dubai School of Government and a Research Fellow at the Women and Public Policy Program, HKS, Harvard University. Al-Dabbagh is a specialist on gender and globalization in the Middle East and has conducted research on the topic using a combination of social psychology, public policy, and feminist lenses. Her current research projects include: the psychology of globalization; gender and negotiation; feminist activism in Saudi Arabia, and the intersections of family formation and women’s work in the Gulf Cooperative Council countries (GCC). Al-Dabbagh has publications in both academic and policy outlets in Arabic and English and her work has been featured in over 40 local, regional, and international media outlets. She is a member of a number of local and international associations such as the Arab Women and Gender Studies Consortium in the UAE, the Development Forum (Academic Social Sciences Society in the GCC), and the Saudi Sunday group (Multaqa Ahadi), the Academy of Management (AOM) and the American Psychological Association (APA). Al-Dabbagh is a graduate of Dhahran Ahliyya Schools in Saudi Arabia, received a B.A. in Psychology (with high honors) from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Oxford. She is married to Hashem Montasser and they have one son, Abdallah, who keeps them both highly entertained.

Artist
Saudi Arabia

www.manaldowayan.com

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Biography

Manal AlDowayan is a conceptual artist with a research-based practice, born and raised in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. Mainly producing in the medium of photography, AlDowayan often works in collaboration with invited women participants to address subjects spanning feminist politics and collective remembering within the Gulf region and beyond. AlDowayan has a Masters degree in Systems Analysis and Design and worked as the Creative Director of the Saudi Arabian oil company for ten years before becoming a full-time artist. She has participated in several residencies including: Delfina Foundation in London, The Town House Gallery in Cairo, and Mathaf: Project Space in Doha.

AlDowayan has been inducted into various cultural leadership initiatives including the Clore Leadership program and the British Council International Cultural Leaders program. She has also been invited as the key note speaker in many international conferences and seminars; most recently at the Clinton Foundation in Little Rock, Arkansas as part of the Club de Madrid’s 2012 annual conference, entitled “Harnessing 21st Century Solutions: A Focus on Women” and at “Beyond Borders, The Platform for Small Nation Dialogue and Cultural Exchange” in Scotland 2012. Manal AlDowayan has participated in international exhibitions including the The American Biennale: Prospect 3 in New Orleans 2014, collateral shows at Venice Biennale in 2011 and 2009, the Berlin Biennale in 2010, and in a collateral exhibition that coincided with Contemporary Istanbul in 2010. Her works are included in the permanent collections of the British Museum, LA County Museum, Mathaf Museum of Modern Arab Art, the Jordan National Museum of Fine Art, the Abdul Latif Jamil Foundation, the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH), the Nadour Foundation, and the Barjeel Foundation. Manal AlDowayan is represented by Cuadro Gallery in Dubai. She currently lives and works between her native Dhahran, Saudi Arabia and Dubai, UAE.

Visual artist & Filmmaker
Kuwait

www.moniraalqadiri.com
www.facebook.com/monira.alqadiri

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Past Projects

2014 – “GCC: Achievements in Retrospective” solo exhibition, MoMA PS1, New York (as part of GCC collective).
2014 – Berlinale – Berlin International Film Festival, Forum Expanded section, Berlin, Germany.
2014 – “Where is My Territory?” screening, Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK.
2014 – “Parle Pour Toi” program, Marian Goodman Gallery, Paris, France.
2014 – “Transformer” solo exhibition, Sultan Gallery, Kuwait.
2013 – “Exposure 2013”, Beirut Art Center, Beirut, Lebanon.
2013 – “X-Apartments”, Home Works 6, Beirut, Lebanon.

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What book or artist’s work has been most influential on you?

Sergei Parajanov’s films

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Biography

Monira Al Qadiri is a Kuwaiti visual artist and film maker born in Senegal and educated in Japan. In 2010, she received a Ph.D. in inter-media art from Tokyo University of the Arts, where her research was focused on the aesthetics of sadness in the Middle-East region stemming from poetry, music, art and religious practices. Her work explores the relationship between narcissism and masculinity, as well as other dysfunctional gender roles in Arab societies. She is currently expanding her practice towards social and political subjects. Al Qadiri has taken part in exhibitions and film screenings in Tokyo, Kuwait, Beirut, Dubai, Berlin, New York and Moscow among others. She is also a member of the artist collective GCC, which has recently held a solo exhibition at MoMA PS1 (2014).

Writer, Huffington Post, Zawya & Founder Barjeel Art Foundation
UAE

www.barjeelartfoundation.org
www.twitter.com/sultanalqassemi
www.youtube.com/channel
vimeo.com/barjeelartfoundation

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Biography 

Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi is a columnist and Twitter commentator on Arab affairs. His columns on the Middle East have appeared in The Financial Times, The New York Times, Foreign Policy and Open Democracy. Rising in prominence during the Arab Spring, Sultan’s tweets became a major news source, rivalling the major news networks at the time, until Time magazine listed him in the ‘140 Best Twitter Feeds of 2011’.

Sultan is also the founder of the Barjeel Art Foundation, an independent initiative established to contribute to the intellectual development of the art scene in the Arab region by providing a prominent and publicly accessible art collection in the United Arab Emirates. Apart from exhibitions within the UAE and the region, Barjeel Art Foundation has managed to showcase the Arab art scene as far as Europe, Japan and more recently Singapore, the first time an exhibition dedicated to artists from the Arab world has ever been hosted in South East Asia.

Sultan is an MIT Media Labs Director’s Fellow. In 2014, Arabian Business placed Sultan in its list of World’s 100 Most Powerful Arabs under the Thinkers category.

Artist
Ayyam Gallery
Kuwait

www.shurooqamin.com
www.ayyamgallery.com
www.twitter.com/shurooqamin
www.instagram.com/shurooqamin
www.facebook.com/amin.shurooq

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Past Projects

Popcornographic (2013) – a series of paintings exploring freedom of expression subjective censorship in the Middle East and its impact on society. Other topics tackled include child marriages, female virginity in the Islamic world, mental health issues in Muslim society, and gender equality.
It’s a Man’s World (2012) – a series of paintings exploring the secret underground world of men in the Arabian Gulf, including adultery, homosexuality/bisexuality, alcohol addiction, drugs and relationships. The exhibition was shut down by local Kuwait authorities after 3 hours and the artworks were subsequently banned and an attempt at destroying them was thwarted by smuggling the works out of the gallery.
Society Girls and The Bullet Series (2010-2011)- a series of paintings that explored the secret underground world of women in the Arabian Gulf, addressing issues like sexuality, feminism, societal roles, home versus public personas, the polarity between East and West and socio-political ritualism.

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What book or artist’s work has been most influential on you?

Frida Kahlo, Gustav Klimt

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Biography 

Born in 1967, Shurooq Amin is a Kuwaiti mixed-media interdisciplinary artist and an Anglophone poet whose purpose is to instigate change in society. She has a PhD in Ekphrasis, the connection between art and poetry, and has been published and anthologized internationally. She has been a guest speaker at various universities and a judge for various events. Shurooq has had more than 11 solo exhibitions, more than 40 group exhibitions, her paintings have been sold at auctions (including Christie’s), commissioned privately and publicly, awarded prizes locally and internationally, and shown at biennales and art fairs. A retrospective of her work was featured in the biannual art journal Contemporary Practices: Visual Arts from the Middle East. Shurooq’s poetry has been published into two books to date, in more than 40 literary journals across the globe, and has been anthologized in the Gathering the Tide: An Anthology of Arabian Gulf Poetry by Ithaca Publishers in association with the Virginia Commonwealth University of Qatar. Her second volume of poetry “The Hanging of the Wind” is taught as part of the contemporary literature curriculum in universities in the Gulf. She is the first Kuwaiti to be nominated for the prestigious Pushcart Prize in December 2007 in the USA. On March 2012 her show It’s a Man’s World was shut down by Kuwaiti authorities and her work was banned in the country. In April 2013, Shurooq was awarded the title of Artist of the Year by the Arab Woman Awards, and has since become the first Kuwaiti woman to be auctioned at Christie’s auction house. She exhibited her 2013 series Popcornographic during Art Dubai with Ayyam Gallery. Her 2014 series We’ll Build This City on Art and Love was exhibited from September 14th to October 23, 2014, with Ayyam Gallery, DIFC, Dubai, and will be exhibited in London from 12th November 2014 to 5th January 2015, with an artist’s talk and panel discussion. Shurooq is represented exclusively by Ayyam Gallery.

Photographer
USA

www.notinyourface.com

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Past Projects

“Neon”, “After Neon” projects based on the use of neon light imagery and its symbolism. How an object changes the environment and message on the streets, in store windows and in public places.

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What book or artist’s work has been most influential on you?

Ways of Seeing by John Berger and the artist Alexander Calder

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Biography

When George Harrison arrived in New York for the Beatles’ historic visit he was carrying a Pentax Spotmatic as he descended the airplanes steps. Susan was a devoted fan and soon bought the same Pentax and began to photograph her everyday life such as it appeared to her. Her love of t-shirts began In the Seventies when she was known for silkscreening t-shirts and posters to protest the Vietnam War.

After an internship at the Cloisters the MedievaI branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art she was employed at the Perls Galleries, a historic gallery on Madison Avenue where she worked for fifteen years as Associate Director. She was lucky enough to handle one of a kind Picassos, Braques, Legers, Matisse and Modigliani. She worked with Alexander Calder planning and installing exhibitions and cataloguing his work. She continues to act as a consultant in the art world today. She returned to the School of Visual Arts studying graphic design with Milton Glaser and Paul Davis while continuing to take pictures on the streets of New York City.

“Not In Your Face” was born by photographing in the streets only to find she was oftentimes standing at a corner with those who chose to wear a message on their back willing to advertise their affiliations and likes and dislikes.

In the Seventies when she was known for silkscreening t-shirts and posters to protest the Vietnam War. After an internship at the Cloisters the MedievaI branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art she was employed at the Perls Galleries, a historic gallery on Madison Avenue where she worked for fifteen years as Associate Director. . She continues to act as a consultant in the art world today. She returned to the School of Visual Arts studying graphic design with Milton Glaser and Paul Davis while continuing to take pictures on the streets of New York City.

Faculty, Painting School of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Cuba/USA

www.smfa.edu/maria-magdalena-campos-pons

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Biography 

Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons’ work of the last 20 years covers an extended range of visual language investigations. Campos-Pons’ work emerges from the early 1980s focus on painting and the discussion of sexuality in the crossroads of Cuban mixed cultural heritage to incisive questioning, critique and insertion of the black body in the contemporary narratives of the present. Installation art, performative photography and cultural activism define the core of Campos-Pons’ practice of the last two decades. A cross collaboration with musician composer and husband, Neil Leonard, that started in 1988, has complemented and enriched the scope of Campos-Pons’ work. Together they founded GASP, a lab and studio for the 21st century. She has lectured from the Tate Modern to the Brooklyn Museum and the School of Art in Dakar.

Campos-Pons has been exhibited internationally since 1984 when she won the Honorable Mention at the XVIII Cagnes-sur-Mer Painting Competition in France, and the Bunting Fellowship in Visual Arts at Harvard 1993; solo shows followed at MoMA, the Venice Biennale 2001, Johannesburg Biennial, the First Liverpool Biennial, the Dak’ART Biennial in Senegal; most recently the Guangzhou Triennial in China hosted her work. A 20-year retrospective of Campos-Pons’ work, Everything is Separated by Water: Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, opened in Indianapolis in 2006 and traveled to the Bass Museum in Miami. A new museum show opened in Nashville in 2010.

Campos-Pons was celebrated as one of upcoming young leaders of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts by the Women’s Chapter, among the 100 Most Influential Latinos, and honored in 2008 as Harvard launched its Campaign to build the new Harvard Art Museum, as well at the Indianapolis Museum of Arts’ 125th Anniversary Gala in 2008. Campos-Pons was selected to receive the Rappaport Prize in 2007.

Founding Director, The OfficeArts
USA

www.theofficearts.com

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Past Projects

carrie mae weems past tense/future perfect
mass moca
sundance filmmakers’ lab

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What book or artist’s work has been most influential on you?

William Kentridge

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Biography 

Rachel Chanoff has been working in performing arts and film for 30 years and is the founder and director of THE OFFICE performing arts + film, a New York City-based programming, consulting, and production company. She is the Curator of Performing Arts and Film for the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA), Director of Programming of the CenterSeries at the ’62 Center for Theater and Dance at Williams College, Consultant to the Feature Film and Theater Programs for the Sundance Institute, a member of the New York Jewish Film Festival selection committee, and Curator of Music and Family programming at 92YTribeca, and the Artistic Director of Celebrate Brooklyn!, New York’s longest running free outdoor performing arts and film festival. Rachel is also proud to serve on the board of the 52nd Street Project, The Builders Association, and Working Films. She is also a long time participant in the Theater Development Fund’s Open Doors program, which introduces underserved high school students to the theater.

Rachel was recently an associate producer for Phil on Film: Shorts, a collaboration with Philip Glass and the filmmakers Shirin Neshat, Atom Egoyan, Michal Rovner and Peter Greenaway. Past arts consulting includes the Live at the JM series for the Jewish Museum; the Performing Arts Center at SUNY Purchase; New Haven Arts Festival of Arts and Ideas; Project Consultant for Walt Disney Animation; the Native American Film Festival; Producer of the Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts “Reading Room Readings”; and curating the Whitney Museum Summer Jazz Series. Other past and present clients of THE OFFICE include the American Museum of Natural History, the music producer Hal Willner, the Rolex Mentor & Protégé Arts Initiative, the Clark Art Institute, Wave Hill, and Riverspace Arts in Nyack, NY, and the Just Kidding! family programs at Symphony Space along with many others.

Artist
India

www.baptistcoelho.com
vimeo.com/baptistcoelho
www.facebook.com/baptist.coelho

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Past Projects

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Biography 

Baptist Coelho’s projects frequently merge personal research with collaborations from various cultures, geographies and histories. These works begin to take on the form of human-shaped media-landscapes and often contend with conflict, emotion, culture, gender, history and the environment. He incorporates various media such as installation, video, sound, photography, performance and found objects. While exploring these stories and ideas from various geographical backgrounds, Coelho has discovered that the values and ideas which are expressed through these collaborations can often describe a much larger, global, perspective.

Coelho received his Masters of Arts from Birmingham Institute of Art & Design – BIAD, UK (2006). He was awarded the ‘Façade Video Award’ (2011) by Art Today Association, Plovdiv-Bulgaria; ‘Promising Artist Award’ (2007) by Art India & India Habitat Centre, Delhi-India and ‘Johnson Prize Fund’ (2006) by BIAD, UK. Solo Exhibitions include Pump House Gallery, London-UK (2012); Grand Palais, Bern-Switzerland (2009); Project 88, Mumbai-India (2009); Visual Arts Gallery, Delhi-India (2009) and BIAD, UK (2006). His works have been exhibited at Jönköpings Läns Museum, Sweden (2013); Museo de la Ciudad, Cuernavaca-Mexico (2013); CASS Sculpture Foundation, Goodwood-UK (2012); Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing-China (2012); Zacheta National Art Gallery, Poland-Warsaw (2011); MAXXI, Rome-Italy (2011); Swiss Architecture Museum, Basel-Switzerland (2011); MAC, Lyon-France (2011); Essl Museum, Klosterneuburg-Austria (2010); Gwangju Museum of Art, South Korea (2010); Reykjavik Art Museum, Iceland (2010); HEART – Herning Museum of Contemporary Art, Denmark (2010); MuVIM, Valencia-Spain(2009); National Art Gallery, Islamabad-Pakistan (2008); Devi Art Foundation, Gurgaon-India (2008), amongst others. He has also participated in various artist residencies, workshops, artist talks and panel discussions in India, Nepal, South Korea, Thailand, South Africa, Bulgaria, Poland, Czech Republic, Belgium, Switzerland, France, Norway and UK. The artist lives and works in Bombay-India.

Photographer/Filmmaker
Nigeria/USA

www.andrewdosunmu.com

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Past Projects

Restless city – FILM
Mother of george -FILM

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What book or artist’s work has been most influential on you?

Season of Migration to the North, by Tayeb Salih

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Biography

Andrew Dosunmu is a Nigerian photographer and filmmaker who came to prominence in The United States after directing music videos for various acclaimed artists including Isaac Hayes, Angie Stone, Common, Tracy Chapman, Wyclef Jean, Kelis, Aaron Neville, Talib Kweli and Maxwell. He is the director of the 2011 drama film, Restless City which premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. His next film, 2013’s Mother of George, also premiered at Sundance, and was the Closing Night selection for Maryland Film Festival 2013. Dosunmu currently lives between New York and Lagos, Nigeria.

Dosunmu started his career as a design assistant at the fashion house of Yves Saint Laurent. He later became a creative director (serving in that position for album covers for such artists as Erykah Badu and Public Enemy) and a fashion photographer, with his photographs appearing in various international magazines. In 2007, he was honored with the request to speak at the TED Global conference. Dosunmu has directed and photographed numerous commercials for print advertising & TV for companies such as AT&T, General Motors, Levi’s, Giordano Jeans, Kenneth Cole, “Buddy System” for ABC, “Ass Kicking” for PSA, “My Kind of Town” for AMES, “Soul Food” for Showtime. Photographs from his documentary, “The African Game”, was published in a coffee table book by powerHouse Books. Dosunmu was recently selected to participate in the photography exhibition “Snap Judgments: New Positions in Contemporary Photography” at the International Center of Photography. Dosunmu has been a contributing photographer for publications like Vibe, Clam, Fader, Face, Paper, Interview, i-D, Vogue Hommes – France and Italy, Complex, & Ebony.

Theater Director, Paprika Productions
USA

www.taraelliott.com

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Past Projects

Directed and developed Burq Off! and has produced it in NYC, LA, San Francisco, and London.
Directed new play Night, Still at HERE Arts Center.
Translated and Directed the English language premier of award winning Chilean play Illiterates at the Robert Moss Theater

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What book or artist’s work has been most influential on you?

Anne Bogart, Jerzy Grotowski

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Biography

Tara Elliott is a director, producer, performer, and educator. In the past three years since moving to New York, she has been creating, directing, or performing with productions of Burq Off! (Walkerspace), Night, Still (HERE Arts), Illiterates (Robert Moss Theater), The Forgotten Life of Egon Schiele, (The (Un)Fair)), Rise Up Singing: Women in the Labor Movement (Lehman College), Rotenburg (Dixon Place), Two Girls, One Corpse (Arts at Renaissance), Casa de Pessoa (IATI Theater), You Will Make a Difference (AliveWire Theatrics). Additionally she teaches theater classes in public schools across Brooklyn and is committed to integrating performing arts into public school curriculum through teaching residencies. She received a BA from Bennington College where she studied dance and theater. www.taraelliott.com

Photographer & TV Producer/Director
UAE

www.twitter.com/reemfalaknaz
www.youtube.com/user/reemirror
vimeo.com/reemfalaknaz/

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Past Projects

This Momentary, Dubai. Produced under Sikka Artists in Residence 2013. “This Momentary” focuses on the merchants and craftsmen around Al Khor (Creek) area. Many of these traders have occupied that part of the city from more that 30 years. They shared their stories and some of their personal items. Through this collection of cherished photographs, atypical religious items, worn out clothes and old radio players; the personal narratives of each contributor was emphasised and the multicultural make up of Dubai, while subjectively outlining a regional map of labour forces.

The Place of Perpetual Undulation, Ras Al Khaimah. Produced under NYU Find Fellowship. This series is a study on small village life and the inner landscapes of its inhabitants. It explores the lives of those residing in small communities in Ras Al Khaimah mountains and valleys. These mountains are retreats to many. A sparse collection of farms and towns scattered around these massive structures are characterized by perseverance, hope, beauty, solitude and equanimity. The palette and topography set the scene. These million year old formations that were once home to oceanic beings are now occupied by different subjects; some are youthful with a steady patience, others are wrinkle ridden with a hundred stories to tell.

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What book or artist’s work has been most influential on you?

Cinema: from Carl Theodor Dreyer to Terrence Malick to Wim Wenders and more.

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Biography

Reem Falaknaz is a photographer and freelance TV producer/director from the United Arab Emirates. The nature of her job allows her to travel around the Emirates, where she records and collects narratives from the city’s inhabitants. Her work stems from the realization of a scarcity of modern history documentation. Through video, photography, audio and endless conversations; Falaknaz continues to explore the makeup of her surroundings and attempt to translate the stories she collects.

Photographer, Storyteller, Triathlete
Bosnia – Herzegovina

www.ziyahgafic.ba
www.instagram.com/ziyahgafic
www.quest.ba
www.thelavinagency.com/speaker-ziyah-gafic.html
www.ted.com/talks/ziyah_gafic_everyday_objects_tragic_histories

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Previous Projects

Quest for Identity
Troubled Islam: short stories from troubled societies

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What book or artist’s work has been most influential on you?

Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

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Biography

I was born and raised in Sarajevo, Bosnia in 1980, the year when Tito died and my former country started falling apart. I spent my formative years in besieged Sarajevo. Since 1999 I’ve been covering main stories worldwide for some of the leading international publications. Main focus of my work is Islam and conflicts involving muslim countries and identification process of tens of thousands missing Bosnians. My work has won some of the most prestigious awards and accolades for photojournalism. Since two years ago I started competing in the ultra long distance triathlons (famed and feared Ironman distance).

Writer
Philippines/USA

www.jessicahagedorn.net

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Past Projects

Dogeaters – novel and adapted play;
Danger and Beauty – collected poems;
Most Wanted – musical play;
Fresh Kill – screenplay for indie feature by Shu Lea Cheang.

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What book or artist’s work has been most influential on you?

2666 by Roberto Bolaño, among others.

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Biography

Originally from the Philippines but now living in New York, Jessica Hagedorn is the author of Toxicology, Dream Jungle, The Gangster Of Love, and Dogeaters, which won the American Book Award and was a finalist for the National Book Award in fiction. She is also the author of Danger And Beauty, a collection of poetry and prose. Hagedorn edited both volumes of Charlie Chan Is Dead: An Anthology of Contemporary Asian American Fiction, and Manila Noir, a crime fiction anthology. Her plays include Most Wanted, The Heaven Trilogy, and the stage adaptation of Dogeaters. Work in film includes the screenplay for the independent feature, Fresh Kill. Hagedorn is the Director of the MFA Creative Writing Program at LIU Brooklyn. For more information, visit www.jessicahagedorn.net.

Global Director, Equality Now
USA

www.equalitynow.org
www.huffingtonpost.com/yasmeen-hassan

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What book or artist’s work has been most influential on you?

Gloria Steinem’s works

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Biography 

Yasmeen Hassan became the Global Director of Equality Now in 2011 after having served as Deputy Executive Director and Director of Programs for three years. Before joining the organization, Ms. Hassan was with the United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women where she worked on the implementation of CEDAW and the Secretary-General’s study on violence against women. She has been involved in women’s rights since very early in her career, authoring the first study of domestic violence in Pakistan, which ultimately became Pakistan’s submission to the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing 1995. Long before joining Equality Now, she was a supporter of the organization, serving as editor of its first report on discriminatory laws in 1999. She has written several papers and opinion editorials on the situation of women which have been published in the Washington Post and the International Herald Tribune. Ms. Hassan holds a J. D. from Harvard Law School where, among other subjects, she studied Islamic law and women’s rights. She practiced corporate law at Davis Polk & Wardwell from 1995 to 2003 and clerked on the D.C. Court of Appeals from 1994 to 1995.

Artist/Speaker TEDx
India/UAE

www.samarsinghjodha.com
instagram.com/samarjodha
twitter.com/samarjodha
www.facebook.com/pages/Friends-of-Samar-Jodha
www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcqOqeX3Xs8
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDZ_ULDkLvM

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Past Projects

Phaneng -A Journey Into Personal Engagement

A compelling portrait of the Tai Phake people, the most endangered Buddhist tribal group from the village of Phaneng, in Upper Assam. The involvement with the community resulted in an education project, the rebuilding of a monastery, a re-forestry program, a weaving center and a unique eco-tourism project that has built local capacity as well as raised incomes. The works in this show are a series of 12 images in black and white (64”x 80”) shot on location with a large-format camera. The exhibition is a multimedia experience combining imagery, a sound scape recorded in the village and a video screen showcasing the dailylife of this endangered community.

Bhopal -A Silent Picture

The Bhopal gas tragedy of 1984 remains the world’s biggest industrial disaster. The photographs in this forty-foot multimedia installation have been shot at the now sealed Union Carbide Plant in Bhopal (India) that continues to poison the soil, air and water of its surrounding areas. The images portray an eerie emptiness as the perpetrators of this crime continue to walk free. The victims – largely poor people, continue to be denied fair compensation, adequate health care or legal redressal. Worse, they are forced behind a veil of indifference and enforced silence. This installation also hints at this state of affairs with a shroud bearing names and file numbers of some of the victims’ that envelops them in anonymity.

Photography & Art Workshop

In its 17th year, Express & Aspire workshop goes beyond honing the creativity of the individuals to help raise self-esteem, impart life lessons and offer possibilities that are hard for these individuals to otherwise imagine in their difficult circumstances. Awards, traveling exhibitions and fundraisers are some of the other outputs emerging from these engagements. Past beneficiaries include schools & local NGOs.

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Biography

Samar S Jodha is an artist who over the last twenty years, has been using photography and film to address various issues like development, human rights and conservation. His work has shown in galleries and museums around the world. Jodha’s eight-year long project on ageing in India remains the single biggest social communication project in terms of outputs and outreach. Extracts of it were showcased at Whitechapel Gallery, London and Fotomuseum, Zurich in 2010. Parallel to his art projects, photography teaching workshops and editorial work, Samar has worked with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, BBC World Service Trust and the United Nations. Jodha is a regular speaker on TEDx.

Artist
Tunisia/Germany

www.nadiakaabilinke.com
www.facebook.com/nadia.kaabilinke

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Past Projects

The Future Rewound and The Cabinet of Souls, solo exhibition at The Mosaic Rooms, London, UK, 13 Oct – 29 Nov 2014
“In confinement my desolate mind desires”, solo booth, Art Basel Hong Kong, 2014
Meinstein, permanent public artwork in Berlin, Germany

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Biography

Nadia Kaabi-Linke is a Russian-Tunisian artist born in 1978 in Tunis. She studied at the University of Fine Arts in Tunis (1999) before receiving a PhD from the Sorbonne University in Paris (2008). Her installations, objects and pictorial works are embedded in urban contexts, intertwined with memory and geographically and politically constructed identities.

Artist
India/USA

www.shauryakumar.com

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Past Projects

Masterworks: Visualizations of Binary Degradation
The Lost Museum: The Fate of the World’s Greatest Lost Treasures
Googlepeadic Narrations and the Dysfunction of Damage

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What book or artist’s work has been most influential on you?

The Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino

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Biography

A native of Delhi, India where he studied printmaking and painting at the College of Art; Shaurya Kumar graduated with his MFA from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 2007. Since 2001, Kumar has been involved in numerous prestigious research projects, like “The Paintings of India” (a series of 26 documentary films on the painting tradition of India); “Handmade in India” (an encyclopedia on the handicraft traditions of India); and digital restorations of 6th century Buddhist mural paintings from the caves of Ajanta.

Kumar’s research is focused on creating works which appreciate and appropriate new media while highlighting the dangers of its longevity; and the disconnect between the virtual and the real. His work is an investigation of art and technology, and the rift that lies between. Ultimately, his work is a dialogue about site, how site effects and affects data and therefore a society, a culture, a people and ultimately a person.

Kumar’s work has been showcased in numerous national and international exhibitions across the US and in countries including India, Taiwan, China, Poland, South Korea, Thailand, Belgium, Bulgaria, Italy, U.K., Norway, France, Australia and Finland among many others. His works have been installed at venues including the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum (formerly Victoria & Albert Museum, Mumbai); UNM Art Museum, Albuquerque; SCA Contemporary, Albuquerque; Queens Museum, NYC; Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul; Lakeeren Gallery, Mumbai; New Art Center, NYC; Los Angeles Center for Digital Arts, Los Angeles, CA; Museum of Fine Arts, Georgia; Schneider Museum of Art, Oregon; Charleston Heights Art Center, Las Vegas among many others.

Kumar currently lives and works in Chicago, IL where he also teaches in the Department of Printmedia at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Fulbright Specialist Roster & Research Affiliate, M.I.T. Program in Art, Culture and Technology
USA

www.neilleonard.com
soundcloud.com/neilleonard
twitter.com/NeilLeonard3
www.youtube.com/user/neilleonardmusic

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Past Projects

For Kounellis (2014) – Saxophone and electronic composition, audio CD
The music was performed at Music Acoustica in Beijing, China; Nuits Sonores Festival in Lyon, France; and Museo Nacional de
Bellas Artes, Havana, Cuba before this studio realization.
soundcloud.com/neilleonard/sets/for-kounellis

True Bread (2013) – 10 channel sound/2 channel video Installation
Stephan Stoyanov Gallery, NYC, USA – 2013
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cv5iRlIujmY&amp

Letter of the Year (2013), Mixed media installation
Cuban Pavilion, Venice Biennale, Italy – 2013
www.artistsincontextprospectus.org

_____

What book or artist’s work has been most influential on you?

Ion by Plato

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Biography

Leonard is a composer, saxophonist and artist. His includes concert performances, installation, performance concerts for saxophone/live electronics, to works for orchestra, sound/video installations and sound for dance, theater and performance. His compositions/performances were featured by Carnegie Hall, Boston Globe Jazz Festival, Musicacustica (Beijing), International Computer Music Convention (Montreal), Tel Aviv Biennial for New Music, Moscow Autumn, Auditorium Parco della Music (Rome), Museo Reina Sofia (Madrid), Panama Jazz Festival, Jazz Plaza International Festival (Havana).

Leonard’s work with visual artist Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons spans twenty-five years and includes audio for performance, film, video and installation. Their collaborative work was featured by the Havana Bienal, 49th and 55th Venice Biennale, Museum of Modern Art (NYC), purchased by the National Gallery of Canada and presented by Dakar Biennial. Leonard composed the music for Relatives, by Tony Oursler that was featured by the Whitney Biennial and the ICA, Boston. Leonard is the Artistic Director of Berklee College of Music’s Interdisciplinary Arts Institute. He is currently on the Fulbright Specialist Roster and is a Research Affiliate at M.I.T. Program in Art, Culture and Technology.

Contemporary Visual Artist & Co-Founder, Britto Arts Trust
Bangladesh

www.mahbub-lipi.com
www.brittoartstrust.org
www.piartworks.com
www.facebook.com/tayeba.lipi
vimeo.com/user29130480
twitter.com/TayebaLipi
www.youtube.com/results?search_query=65mahbubvideo

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Past Projects

54 Venice Biennale 2011.
Jakarta Biennale 2011.
Colombo Biennale 2012.
CiCLO (CYCLE) at CCBB Sao Paulo, Brasilia and Bello
Horizonte in Brazil curated by Marcello Dantas in 2014.
‘No Country’- Guggenheim UBS MAP curated by June Yap at CCA Singapore,
Guggenheim NY and Asia Society Hong Kong in 2012-2014.
Dhaka Art Summit 2014.

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Biography 

Born in Gaibandha in 1969, Tayeba Begum Lipi has been living in Dhaka since 1986. She studied drawing and painting at the Institute of Fine Art, University of Dhaka until 1993. She is one of the Founder- Trustees of Britto Arts Trust. Her curations include several international large-scale projects, as well as being the commissioner for Parables: Bangladesh Pavilion at La Biennale di Venezia, 2011. Her solo exhibitions include Pi Artworks, Istanbul in 2013 and Pi Artworks London in 2014, Bengal Gallery of Fine Arts, Dhaka, 2007; Alliance Française Dhaka, 2004; Gallery 21, Dhaka, 2001 and Alliance Française Dhaka in 1998. Lipi has been exhibited in two-person shows at Saitama City Plaza North Gallery in 2014, Gallery Akar Prakar, Kolkata, 2010, La Galerie, Alliance Française Dhaka, 2002 and Arts Council of Jyvaskyla, Finland, 2000 along side of artist Mahbubur Rahman. She received the ‘Top 10 Women’ of Bangladesh in 2014, Civitela Ranieri Fellowship, Italy in 2014; Grand Prize at the 11th Asian Art Biennale and One-year fellowship from the artist Aminul Islam Trust, Bangladesh in 2004. Some of her selected group shows include Daily Pasture’- Video Art Exhibition on the ‘New Silk Road’ curated by NiKun and Zeng Qunkai at Museum Of Contemporary Xinjiang; CiCLO (CYCLE) at CCBB Sao Paulo, Brasilia and Bello Horizonte in Brazil curated by Marcello Dantas; Art Basel Hong Kong; ‘No Country’- Guggenheim UBS MAP curated by June Yap at CCA Singapore; ‘Cross Casting’ curated by Mahbubur Rahman at Britto Space; Femlink- a video art exhibition at the [.BOX] VIDEOART PROJECT SPACE, Milano, ITALY in 2014. Mapping Gender at JNU Delhi, INDIA; Contemporary Istanbul’13; ”No Country”, Guggenheim UBS MAP, Guggenheim NY and Asia Society Hong Kong Center curated by June Yap; Guild Gallery, Curated by Veerangana Solanki, Mumbai, INDIA; India Art Fair, Delhi; Palette Art Gallery, Curated by Veerangana Solanki, Delhi, INDIA in 2013. Art Asia Miami, Curated by Jasmin Wahi, USA; Kunstvlaai Festival, Amsterdam, HOLLAND; Colombo Art Biennale, SRI LANKA; SPACE curated by Mahbubur Rahman at BRITTO SPACE, Dhaka; Dhaka Art Summit in 2013. Jakarta Art Biennale; 54. la Biennale di Venezia and FemLink-Video Collage, worldwide screenings in 2011; Leeds Art Gallery, UK, and Videozoom: Bangladesh at Sala 1, Rome, Italy, 2010. 13th-16th, 18th and 19th National Art Exhibition, Bangladesh; 1st Kathmandu International Art Festival; New Media Festival 2009; Turkish Cultural Center, New York; 8th-14th Asian Art Biennale Bangladesh; Christiania Gallery, Copenhagen; European Union House, Brussels; Ejaz Gallery, Lahore and Gallery Akar Prakar, Kolkata in 2008;; South Asian Contemporary Art Exhibition, Copenhagen; Siddhartha Art Gallery, Kathmandu, 2006. Gasworks London, 2005. Gallery NICA, Yangon, Myanmar, 2004. LAAL at Gallery of Mississauga, Ontario, 2003. Gallery Kusabue, Japan, 2001, Gallery ’68-elf’, Cologne and Veri-nice-saari, Jyvaskyla, Finland, 2000. Lipi’s residencies include Contemporary Art Japan ( C.A.J), Saitama, 2014; Mini Residency at Sia Society HK as part of ‘No Country’ by Guggenheim NY; Curatorial Research Residency at gasworks London in 2013; Skill and Knowledge Sharing Programme at pARTage, Mauritius, 2010; RM Studio Residency, Lahore, Pakistan, 2008; Gasworks Residency Programme, London, 2005; NICA, Yangon, Myanmar, 2004; National Workshops for Arts and Crafts, Copenhagen, 2004; Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland, Cill Rialaig Project, Co.Kerry, Ireland, Gallery ’68-elf’, Cologne and Arts Council of Central Finland, Jyvaskyla, Finland in 2000. Lipi has also been involved with numerous workshops, which are held in Bangladesh and abroad.

Artist/Gallery Owner, Cuadro Art Gallery
USA/UAE

www.cuadroart.com/en/artists/lopardo-roberto.html

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Past Projects

Mapping … Dubai, Sharjah, Bahrain, Jeddah, Kuwait City, Doha, Istanbul, Palestine, Abu Dhabi …

_____

What book or artist’s work has been most influential on you?

Fermata by Nicholson Baker

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Biography

Roberto Lopardo was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1975. He carries a Master of Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design, a teaching certificate from Brown University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Politics and Philosophy from Whitman College. Lopardo previously taught at the Arizona School for the Deaf and Blind, Dine College, Rhode Island School of Design, and the University of Arizona. He is the former Dean and Professor of Photography at the American University in Dubai. Lopardo has exhibited in many prominent venues including the RISD Museum, the US Consulate in Dubai, the Tenri Institute in New York, Video-Appart in Paris, and Emerson Gallery in Berlin.

Photographer
UK/Saudi Arabia

www.wmansour.com
www.instagram.com/wasmamansour
www.twitter.com/wasmamansour

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Past Projects

Single Saudi Women (past)
War_Hope (working title – ongoing)
Turkish communities in the UK (working title – ongoing)
Photographic archives of social movements in the gulf region (working title – ongoing)

_____

What book or artist’s work has been most influential on you?

Mother’s by Miyako Ishiuchi, The Female Pike by Esko Männikkö, and All the Days and Nights by Doug DuBois

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Biography

Wasma Mansour (b. 1980) is a Saudi photographer based between Saudi Arabia and the UK. Her photographic practice incorporates text and and an oral history element. She has been working on a long term project exploring the articulations, constructions and representations of single Saudi women residing in the UK.

Writer Performer & Cultural Critic
USA

www.nadiapmanzoor.com
www.facebook.com/actornadiapmanzoor
www.twitter.com/NadiaPManzoor

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Past Projects

Writing, performing, and touring with Burq Off!, an autobiographical one woman show.
The creation, production and upcoming release of Shuts and Fats, an original comedy web series.

_____

What book or artist’s work has been most influential on you?

Irshad Manji

_____

Biography

Nadia Parvez Manzoor is an actor, writer and producer. She spent her earlier years in a Pakistani Muslim home in North London and has since moved from Singapore to Dubai, from Boston to her home base in Brooklyn. In the past year, she has created and acted in the web series Shugs and Fats, which is scheduled for release this fall. She has had sold-out runs of her one woman show, Burq Off!, in New York, LA, San Francisco and London.

Manzoor graduated from Boston University with an M.A. in social work, where her passion was to merge the arts and social reform. Her one woman show, Burq Off!, is a manifestation of this intention.

Her interests lie in asking provocative questions and in challenging the status quo. To further fuse her interests in performance and social justice, she founded Paprika Productions, an all-female production company that produces works by brave, curious women.

Founding Director
Artefacting
USA

www.artefacting.com
www.lamazza.com
twitter.com/artefacting
vimeo.com/user4168246
www.facebook.com/pages/ARTEFACTING

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Past Projects

Reconstitucion: Una Nueva Patria – Oaxaca Mexico
Reconciling Ecologies in the Millennum City – Gurgaon India
El Estadio – Willets Point New York City USA

_____

What book or artist’s work has been most influential on you?

Urban Pioneers: Temporary Use and Urban Development in Berlin by Klaus Overmeyer

_____

Biography

Alex White-Mazzarella is the Founding Director of Artefacting. An artist, urbanist & social animator, he sparked Artefacting as a public art practice that utilizes public art, learning and social cultural relations as tools to build a capacity and belief amongst communities to engage and address pressing social and cultural needs. With courage, multiculturalism and global insight in hand, Alex is passionate about bringing diverse audiences together to realize their potential as a community.

Alex received his BA in economics at Clark University (2002) MA studies in Urban Planning & Architecture at Portland State University and Universidad Politecnica de Barcelona. He is also a mixed-media artist with work in private collections in the USA, Europe and India and he exhibits regularly in New York City.

Singer/Songwriter
Zimbabwe/UK

www.netsayi.com
www.facebook/netsayimusic
www.twitter.com/netsayi

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Previous Projects

2006 – Chimurenga Soul (Album)
2009 – Monkey’s Wedding (Album)
2012 – Sara Regina (EP)

_____

What book or artist’s work has been most influential on you?

“Buud Yam” A Film by Gaston J-M. Kabore

_____

Biography

Writer, Director
Founder/Director – FIND
Associate Professor – NYU, Tisch School of the Arts – Undergraduate Film & Television

_____

Biography

Mo Ogrodnik is an Associate Professor who teaches Screenwriting and Directing at NYU Abu Dhabi and the Tisch School of the Arts. In 2010, she joined NYU Abu Dhabi as the Associate Dean of the Arts to develop the arts programs and the NYUAD Arts Center.  In 2011, she began teaching multi-media workshops with local UAE communities – the inspiration for what would later become FIND.

She started her film career working on Right Thinking, a documentary about the emergence of the New Right and the KKK for Kevin Rafferty and Michael Moore. She then produced films for National Geographic Television’s Explorer Journal, a series that put cameras in the hands of explorers from around the globe and then told their stories. Her first film,Richard and Nicole, won numerous festival awards and sold to WNET. Her first feature film, Ripe, premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, was theatrically released, and continues to be distributed on television. She co-wrote Uptown Girls, starring Brittany Murphy and Dakota Fanning, released by MGM. Her current writing/directing project, Deep Powder, was produced by Killer Films, premiered at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival, and will be sold internationally by the BBC. She received a Bachelors of Arts from Harvard University and a Masters of Fine Arts in Screenwriting and Directing from Columbia University. She is a member of the Writer’s Guild East.

Director & Head Curator, Palestinian Museum & Al-Ma’mal Foundation for Contemporary Art
Palestine/USA

www.palmuseum.org

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Past Projects

Disorientation II, Manaret Saadiyat, Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi (2009)
Never-Part, Bozar, Brussels (2008), Dubai Next, co-curated with Rem Koolhaas at Vitra Design Museum,
Weil am Rhein, Germany (2008), The Millennium Celebrations in Bethlehem – Bethlehem 2000 (1999 – 2000)

_____

What book or artist’s work has been most influential on you?

Present Tense by Mona Hatoum

_____

Biography

Born and living in Jerusalem. curator and producer, Persekian is the founder and director of Anadiel Gallery and the Al-Ma’mal Foundation for Contemporary Art in Jerusalem, and is now the Director and Head Curator of the Palestinian Museum. Previous positions held were: Director of the Sharjah Art Foundation (2009 – 11), Artistic Director of the Sharjah Biennial (2007 – 11), Head Curator of the Sharjah Biennial (2004 – 07). Founder and Artistic Director of The Jerusalem Show, Al-Ma’mal Foundation, Jerusalem (2007 to date) and Qalandiya International (2012 – 14).

Curated exhibitions include: Disorientation II, Manaret Saadiyat, Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi (2009), Never-Part, Bozar, Brussels (2008), Dubai Next, co-curated with Rem Koolhaas at Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, Germany (2008), Reconsidering Palestinian Art, Cuenca, Spain (2006); Disorientation – Contemporary Arab Artists from the Middle East, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (2003). Productions and artistic direction include the Millennium Celebrations in Bethlehem – Bethlehem 2000 (1999 – 2000). Persekian was visiting professor at the Royal College of Art, London, UK.

Actor, Writer & Choreographer
USA

www.omarrahim.com
www.twitter.com/Omarrahim
www.facebook.com/pages/Omar-Rahim/

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Past Projects

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTH-bzlSE1E
www.facebook.com/video
www.imdb.com/video/withoutabox

_____ 

What book or artist’s work has been most influential on you?

Chandralekha — choreographer from India

_____ 

Biography 

An alumnus of MacArthur Award-winning Susan Marshall and Company, Omar has performed internationally at venues including the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Jacob’s Pillow, the Joyce Theatre in New York and the Edinburgh Festival. His work as a choreographer/director has been presented at Dance Theater Workshop in New York, NY, at Wesleyan University and at the Bates Dance Festival in Lewiston, Maine. In 2002, Omar assisted Mary-Ann Kellogg, choreographer of the Universal Studios film, the Guru, and had a cameo as the Indian Prince. Omar has choreo-directed segments for the prestigious stage and television Lux Style Awards shows in Karachi, Pakistan in 2002, 2003, and 2006. In 2008, Omar choreographed and featured in Saqib Malik’s acclaimed music video for Zeb and Haniya’s Aitebar and choreographed Bossy R, a music video for Sesame Workshop in New York in collaboration with five-time Emmy-nominated Director Koyalee Chanda. Omar co-starred in the award-winning Bangladeshi film Meherjaan alongside Indian cinema legends Victor Banerjee and Jaya Bachchan in 2011. Omar presented a new multi-media art/performance work exploring memory and identity at the Sindh Festival in Karachi, Pakistan in February 2014. Omar is currently writing a feature film set in contemporary Pakistan that tells the story of two creative artists who struggle to succeed against all odds.

Founder, Women for Women International
USA/Iraq

www.zainabsalbi.com
www.twitter.com/zainabsalbi
www.facebook.com/pages/Zainab-Salbi/
www.youtube.com/results?search_query=zainab+salbi

_____

Past Projects

Founding Women for Women International
Writing my memoir about Iraq, “Between Two Worlds”

_____

What book or artist’s work has been most influential on you?

The Essential Rumi

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Biography

Zainab Salbi is an Iraqi-American humanitarian, entrepreneur, author, filmmaker, and media commentator that has dedicated herself to international women’s rights and freedom. At the age of 23, she founded Women for Women International—a grassroots humanitarian and development organization dedicated to serving women survivors of wars, which, under 18 years of Salbi’s leadership, helped more than 370,000 in 8 conflict areas, and raised over $100 million in aid and loans. Salbi has been listed as one of the Most Influential Women by Harper’s Bazaar, Newsweek, The Guardian, Fast Company, and Fortune. Salbi is the author of 3 books, including the national bestseller “Between Two Worlds: Escape from Tyranny”.

Writer, Actor, Producer, & Activist
Sri Lanka/USA

www.tanyaturnsup.com
www.twitter.com/tselvar
www.facebook.com/tanyaselvaratnam
www.instagram.com/tanyaselvar
www.facebook.com/tselvar

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Past Projects

The Big Lie: Motherhood, Feminism, and the Reality of the Biological Clock (my book that came out earlier this year), www.thebigliebook.com

Beginnings (a series I produced for the Sundance Channel. It won the Webby Award for Best Documentary Series), www.sundancechannel.com/beginnings

Happy Birthday to a Beautiful Woman (a short documentary directed by Mickalene Thomas. It premiered on HBO earlier this year.), www.hbo.com/documentaries

_____ 

What book or artist’s work has been most influential on you?

Running in the Family by Michael Ondaatje

_____ 

Biography 

Born in Sri Lanka and raised in Long Beach, CA, Tanya Selvaratnam is a writer, actor, producer, and activist. As a producer, Selvaratnam’s recent projects include Catherine Gund’s Born to Fly, a documentary about Elizabeth Streb; Mickalene Thomas’s Happy Birthday to a Beautiful Woman; HERE Arts Center’s MADE HERE; and Chiara Clemente’s Beginnings (Webby Award). Past productions include Catherine Gund’s What’s On Your Plate?; Chiara Clemente’s Our City Dreams; and Jed Weintrob’s The F Word. Her films have premiered at festivals including Sundance, Berlin, SXSW, and Tribeca; and have played theatrically (including two films at Film Forum in NYC) and on television (HBO, Sundance Channel, PBS, STARZ, and IFC). As a theater artist, she has performed in shows by The Wooster Group (House/Lights, Obie Award, Best Production), The Builders Association (Super Vision; Alladeen, Obie Award, Outstanding Production), and many others; appeared in films and installations by artists such as Carrie Mae Weems, Pedro Reyes, John Malpede, Sharon Hayes, Andrea Geyer, David Michalek, Candice Breitz, and Jennifer Reeves; been a fellow at Yaddo and Blue Mountain Center; and an actor at New Dramatists, Lincoln Center Directors Lab, Voice & Vision Theater, and the Institute on Arts and Civic Dialogue.
Selvaratnam is the author of THE BIG LIE: Motherhood, Feminism, and the Reality of the Biological Clock (2014). Her writing has appeared in Vogue, Bust, Huffington Post, Pop and Politics, Toronto Review, xoJane, Art Basel Magazine, Journal of Law and Politics, on Women’s eNews and CNN. As an activist, she has worked with the World Health Organization, Ms. Foundation, NGO Forum on Women, and Third Wave Fund. She is an advisor to The DO School and a board member for The Wooster Group and Boom Arts (Portland, Oregon). She received her graduate and undergraduate degrees in Chinese language and history from Harvard University. Selvaratnam lives in NYC and Portland, Oregon.

Executive Director, The Citizens Archive of Pakistan (CAP)
Pakistan

www.citizensarchive.org
www.facebook.com/citizensarchivepk
www.twitter.com/citizensarchive
www.instagram.com/citizensarchive
www.youtube.com/citizensArchive
www.facebook.com/swaleha.a.shahzada
www.instagram.com/swaleha77

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Past Projects

The Citizens Archive of Pakistan (CAP) is a non-profit organization dedicated to cultural and historic preservation, operating in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. We seek to educate the community, foster an awareness of our nation’s history and instill pride in Pakistani citizens about their heritage. CAP has focused its attention on the tradition of oral storytelling in Pakistan, emphasizing the importance of such narratives in a dialogue on national identity. Our organization has three main goals: to preserve and provide access to the archive, to build and support educational programs, and to develop educational products based on the testimonies collected. We are passionate about sharing Pakistan’s stories with the educational outreach programs and the thousands of visitors who attend our festivals, and exhibitions. Our archives, exhibits and galleries change and grow as our understanding grows, and we strive to share our knowledge in original and exciting ways.

The Oral History Project
The Oral History Project (OHP) lies at the heart of CAP. It concentrates on recording people’s recollections about significant events in their lives during the early days of Pakistan, providing an alternative perspective to historical literature. OHP works with different communities in Pakistan under subprojects such as the Minority Project and Lollywood Through the Ages. The Project also aims to archive and preserve various records such as letters, newspapers, refugee cards, official correspondences, and passports. In the last year, CAP has conducted 79 new interviews, 23 follow-up interviews, and 6 caption interviews for photographs donated by interviewees.

Exchange for Change
Exchange for Change (EFC) is an exciting initiative by CAP that aims to improve relationships between school students from different countries. This program seeks to help students across borders realise that dialogue is not only possible but also sustainable. Through cross-cultural communication, we have seen that students can have a clearer understanding of their history, culture, and lifestyles. CAP believes that such interaction will lead to positive change and eliminate cultural misconceptions and inter-generational conflict. A sustained exchange of letters, postcards, pictures, artwork, and videos encourages children to form their own opinions. Exchange for Change is currently running in India and the United States.

School and College Outreach Tours
The School Outreach Tours (SOT) strive to inspire over 3,600 children in Karachi and Lahore’s most low-income neighbourhoods. We aim to educate children with our carefully planned syllabi and lesson plans that exceed the perimeter of basic knowledge and information. Our lesson plans focus on history, geography, English language, and more importantly on character building. Aside from motivating each individual child, we emphasise and encourage communities towards thinking logically and promoting gender parity through the use of film, spoken word, and photography. With visual rendering as the foremost tool, we have designed various projects to inspire the youth. After the heartening success of the SOT programme, CAP is also reaching out to over 4,500 first and second year college students in Lahore and Karachi. The College Outreach Tours utilise material from CAP’s archive to develop workshops based on civic sense, tolerance, democracy, constitutional rights. The workshops are designed to invoke critical thinking as well as an understanding of the country’s history and heritage. The program is bilingual and includes research-based interactive activities designed to inculcate a broader vision of Pakistan.

_____

What book or artist’s work has been most influential on you?

Samarkand by Amin Maalouf

_____

Biography

Swaleha Alam Shahzada has been involved with The Citizens Archive of Pakistan (CAP) since May 2008. She launched CAP’s flagship program The Oral History Project in June 2008. In January 2009, Swaleha was elected as a member of the Governing Board and has served on it since then, overseeing Human Resources, Finance and Operations of the organisation. Currently she holds the position of the General Secretary on the Governing Board while in June 2012, she was appointed the Executive Director.

Swaleha has had extensive experience in the field of Finance and Education. She graduated with a Bachelors degree in Finance from Greenwich University, Karachi, and worked as a banker and foreign currency trader before realizing her calling was the education sector. She taught Accounting, Economics and Business Management courses to CIE Ordinary and Advanced Level Students for 17 years and held the position of Head of Business Studies Department. Before heading CAP, she worked as the Academic Head at a private school in Karachi.

Visuals & Graffiti Artist
Afghanistan/Netherlands

_____

Past Projects

My Dear Vanabbe.
This project held on 28 september for 2 weeks t Vanabbe museum its about sharing of feeling emotions with museum and letters performance.

Naked Diary.
Writing of diary by drawing, mapping, abstract lines and abstract images. its about sharing privacy of a one or a institution in abstract way.

Straat Art.
Its more about killing, injustices, ignorance, afghan women rights and violence.I find this injustice in has negative effects not just on the current generation of Afghan women but also the future generations if in the form of anger, depression that may take various forms such as violence, drug, violence. Depicting this culture of violence and guns openly and honestly can and will raise awareness by getting Afghan to talk about this violence.
As a first generation Afghan graffiti woman artist, I have facilitated workshops on contemporary in Kandahar city for future interested artists. These workshops had a positive outcome after 2011, in the form of new graffiti all over Kandahar. The blank walls now had provocative images that raised questions and encourage communications. Depict the silent voices of oppressed women. Successfully taught Kandahar’s first contemporary arts workshop, and has held Kandahar and Helmand’s first ever first art exhibitions.

_____

What book or artist’s work has been most influential on you?

Situation of Afghanistan

_____

Biography

Malina Suliman is the name. A visuals and graffiti Afghan artist, brought up bombing, killing, injustices are all normalised. Ignorance and crime Afghan women everywhere are treated as sex object or baby producing machine, violence by women.Malina has always been intrigued by art but often found herself feeling confined with how she could express herself. Art being her passion since she was young. She did her bachelor at Pakistan. She then made a move back to her home city, and one of the most dangerous in the country, Kandahar. Malina valiantly continued her visuals art works, street art find local Kandahar fine art artist grip gives them contemporary art work shop and street art workshops. Now she moved to Holland for her masters study.

Artist
Australia

www.coralrekindlingvenus.com
vimeo.com/lynettewallworth
www.facebook.com/lynette.wallworth

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Past Projects

www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNH7wIl-Hz0
www.youtube.com/watch?v=goLif1a7PQ8
coralrekindlingvenus.com
vimeo.com/24927170

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What book or artist’s work has been most influential on you?

James Turrell

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Biography 

Lynette Wallworth is an Australian artist whose immersive video installations and film works reflect on the connections between people and the natural world, as well as exploring fragile human states of grace. Her work uses immersive environments, interactive technologies with gestural interfaces and narrative long form film to engage with viewers. The environments often rely on activation by the participant/viewer. The activation of the work becomes a metaphor for our connectedness within biological, social and ecological systems. She works primarily with long-term collaborator Pete Brundle.

Wallworth’s work has shown at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the American Museum of Natural History, New York; the Sundance Film Festival; the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, the Smithsonian, Royal Observatory Greenwich for the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad; Auckland Triennial; Adelaide Biennial; Brighton Festival and the Vienna Festival among many others. She has been awarded an International Fellowship from Arts Council England, a New Media Arts Fellowship from the Australia Council for the Arts, the inaugural Australian Film, Television and Radio School Creative Fellowship in 2010. She has had artist residencies in many parts of the world including Southern Italy, Iran, Northern England and New Mexico.