Kushboo Kataria Gulati | Negine Jasmine Sekandari | Paradise Khanmalek | Niqabae
Curated by Sepideah Mohsenian-Rahman
Opening reception: Friday, June 22nd, 6 - 8:30 pm - featuring DJ Cardigan and Youth Poet Laureate of Philadelphia, Husnaa Hashim
A collective exhibit featuring diaspora artists from Afghanistan, India and Pakistan, NAZAR is a love letter to oneself. A study on identity, power, pleasure, and protection - and the vulnerabilities inherent with each. The artists contribute pieces that decolonize perceptions of beauty, femininity, wisdom, and strength. Each artist peels away layers of neocolonial impositions rooted in proximity to whiteness, and centralizes an authentic self in resistance to trans-generational trauma, patriarchal paranoia, and intertwined imperialism. From nudes to niqabs, NAZAR showcases the present and future of radical brown imaginations.
Aima Warriach identifies as Niqabae or Niqabae Chronicles on social media. She is a freelance artist, and contributor to MuslimGirl.com She recently won the TEDxTeen and Adobe Project1324 #CreateDialogue Challenge. She lives by the motto that empowered women, empower women.
Khushboo Kataria Gulati is a visual conjurer based in Los Angeles. Her creations engage with the journey of her flesh/spirit, time(less-ness), sexuality, detangling pain, dreams and igniting wonder. She channels through painting, graphic design, sensation curation, tattooing, and intuitive movement, creating lush worlds around sweet, saturated loving, healing and existing.
Negine Jasmine Sekandari is a mixed-media artist that is inspired by the enchanting tales and memories from her parents’/grandparents’ Afghanistan. She aims to create representation and complex narratives while also re-writing history with string through her embroideries. She is an Arizona-based embroiderer, photographer and aspiring filmmaker aiming to create an off-beat rhythm while focusing on the intricacy of human existence. Juxtaposing colors to create Afghan-inspired ‘fantasies’, she often uses the desert as a subject in her works. Her works have been featured on ReOrient, Kajal Magazine, Southasia.art, What The Doost and Rose Water Magazine.
Paradise Khanmalek is an artist, poet, and designer living and working in Los Angeles. She creates illustrated poetry, designs clothing, and explores the cultural, spiritual and visual dynamics of graphic design. Her work revolves around magic, identity, color theory, and nature.
Sepideah Mohsenian-Rahman received dual-degrees in International Peace and Conflict Resolution and Religious Studies from American University in Washington D.C., along with an M.S.W. in International Social Welfare from Columbia University. She has lived and traveled extensively throughout the Middle East, and most values her time in community in Iran and Palestine. She currently resides in Santa Barbara, CA where she curates social-justice programming at UCSB's MultiCultural Center, where she has showcased the works of the original Minister of Culture for the Black Panther Party, Emory Douglas, CultureStike Director and artivist Favianna Rodriguez, amongst others. She is a regular contributor to MuslimGirl.com
NAZAR will be on view from June 22 - August 12, 2018. Gallery summer hours are Thurs - Sat: 11-5 and by appointment. For additional information please contact Aisha Zia Khan at (215)253-8578 or by email: info@twelvegatesarts.org