Twelve Gates is so excited to announce the first writing workshop of our upcoming event series, THE POETS’ STUDIO. In collaboration with Sanam Sheriff, we will be hosting monthly workshops and social gatherings for folks interested in connecting with others through poetry. Poets who attend April’s Writing Workshop will be given priority for April’s Revision Workshop at the end of the month.

Click here to RSVP to the Writing Workshop on April 8th, 2025 at 7pm.

About THE POETS’ STUDIO:

THE POETS’ STUDIO is a two-part monthly gathering for poets in Philadelphia who are interested in writing, revising, and connecting through poetry. We will be playful and rigorous, precise and expansive, providing a space for poets to commune, generate new writing, and workshop their poems.

THE WRITING WORKSHOP

Every first Tuesday, our Poet of the Month will give a reading and lead us through a generative writing workshop from 7pm to 8:30pm at 12G. A forthcoming Open Call will allow local poets to apply to feature for future sessions.

THE REVISION WORKSHOP

Every last Tuesday of the month, we will workshop three poets with priority given to those who attended The Writing Workshop. Those on the waitlist will be given priority the following month. Workshops will be reflective, curious, and critical, but ultimately steered by the poet themself. Facilitated by Sanam Sheriff, The Revision Workshop will take place from 7pm to 8:30pm at 12G.

Sanam Sheriff is a queer poet, artist, and educator from Bangalore, India. They have received support from the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, Kundiman, Brew & Forge, The Watering Hole, and The Seventh Wave, among others. Sanam’s work has been published in Indiana Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Academy of American Poets, Washington Square Review, Outlook India, and elsewhere. Sanam holds an MFA from Washington University in St. Louis. They currently serve as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Bryn Mawr College where they organize the Reading Series. Sanam is working, with much love, on their debut poetry collection.

This Month’s Poet is Taylor Alyson Lewis, who will be giving a reading and leading us through this April’s writing workshop where poets will have the opportunity to generate and share new work.
Taylor Alyson Lewis (he/him) is a poet and educator. He holds a BA in English from Spelman College and an MFA in Creative Writing from Rutgers University-Camden. At Rutgers, he taught first-year composition and was a research assistant and project manager at the Institute for the Study of Global Racial Justice. He has also been a visiting instructor in creative writing at Bryn Mawr College and a high school English and Social Studies teacher. Taylor has received fellowships to support his writing from Lambda Literary, Fine Arts Work Center, Tin House Summer Workshop, and Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing, where he was awarded the Queer Writer Fellowship in Prose. His work appears in Nat. Brut, Poetry Online, Voicemail Poems, Columbia Journal, and elsewhere.

PAAFF (Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival) and Twelve Gates Arts present a showcase of emerging Iranian women filmmakers! Experience the Philadelphia premiere of 4 bold narrative & experimental short films - plus a live performance by the Shiraz Ensemble!

Join us on Thursday, March 13th or Thursday, March 27th from 5:30-7:30PM for this special screening & reception!

Check out the film schedule here.

PAAFF (Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival) and Twelve Gates Arts present a showcase of emerging Iranian women filmmakers! Experience the Philadelphia premiere of 4 bold narrative & experimental short films - plus a live performance by the Shiraz Ensemble!

Join us on Thursday, March 13th or Thursday, March 27th from 5:30-7:30PM for this special screening & reception!

Check out the film schedule here.

12G BENEFIT WITH FIRE MUSEUM PRESENTS – JANUARY 24

On Friday, January 24th, 2025, 6:30 PM, there will be a benefit fundraiser for Twelve Gates Arts! In collaboration with the Fire Museum, and featuring author, Sham-E-Ali Nayeem, and musicians, Swetha Narasimhan and Julius Masri!

We invite you to spend a pleasant evening with us at Twelve Gates and with the featured guests–whose expertise and craft will certainly bring forth a night of beautiful music and written word. Your presence and contributions will support another year of Twelve Gates’ programming and our mission to highlight South Asian American artistic expression.

Click here to buy tickets!

MIXED RICE BOOK LAUNCH — NOVEMBER 23, 2024

Celebrate the official launch of Mixed Rice at Twelve Gates Arts in Philly on Saturday, November 23rd, 2024 from 12 - 2 PM! Join local author and illustrator Sophie Dipti Sarkar for a heartfelt afternoon featuring a book reading, talk, signing, and a mindful rice-eating meditation inspired by the teachings of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. Bring your favorite rice dish to share, if you’d like! This family-friendly gathering is open to all ages—kids, parents, grandparents, and friends are warmly welcomed.

Mixed Rice is a children's picture book that delves into the dynamics of a multiethnic Asian family and their daily debate over which type of rice to cook for dinner. As the main character, Joya, grapples with choosing between gohan and basmati rice, her parents’ divergent preferences spark a heated debate, revealing their deeper longings for connection and home. The story captures the complexity and richness of multicultural family life, and offers practical insights into mindful communication and conflict resolution, inspired by the teachings of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh.  

Sophie Dipti Sarkar (she/her) is a Bengali and Japanese American artist and facilitator rooted in the Engaged Buddhist tradition of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. Inspired by her ancestors, passion for social change, and celestial wonder, Sarkar creates paintings, children’s books, art and climate curriculums, playground billboards, origami mobiles, solidarity workshops, spiritual songs, and more. Recognized by the Leeway Foundation’s 2022 Transformation Award, Sophie's art has been featured at venues like SOMArts San Francisco and Philadelphia’s Asian Arts Initiative. Her guiding aspiration is to offer creative and spiritual support to social movements working to deepen racial solidarity and sustain life on Earth. She is both the author and illustrator of Mixed Rice.

Register for the event here!

On Thursday, November 7th, from 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM, Twelve Gates is honored to present a film screening of Al Jaar Qabla Al Daar, The Neighbour before the House, 2009-2011, by the Mumbai-based artist group CAMP. This will be followed by a conversation with CAMP founding members Shaina Anand and Ashok Sukumaran.

Palestinian families in Jerusalem / Al Quds look out and speak from their homes using a CCTV camera in 2009. The film was made in 2011.

“The Neighbour before the House” is a series of video probes into the landscape of East Jerusalem. Eight Palestinian families living in Sheikh Jarrah, Silwan, Beit Hanina and the Old City use their TV screens to look out into their neighbourhood, via a CCTV camera mounted on the rooftops of their homes, "tripods made of stones". Instead of bearing witness in the usual way, these families control the cameras from their homes; inquisitiveness, jest, memory, desire and doubt pervades the project of watching. A voice finds an image, an image is probed beneath its surface, thoughts withdraw or rebound. In these specific times and places, camera movements and live commentary become ways in which Palestinian residents evaluate what can be seen, and speak about the nature of their distance from others.

CAMP (founded by Shaina Anand and Ashok Sukumaran in 2007) is a Mumbai-based studio of people who are artists, architects, filmmakers, and technologists. They host long-running video archives Pad.ma and Indiancine.ma, a rooftop cinema for the past 15 years, and make art that is possessed of an infrastructural imagination. Their works have been exhibited in museums, film festivals, and public spaces worldwide—including streets, markets, and neighbourhoods in Bangalore, San Jose, Dakar, Mexico City, Jerusalem, Kolkata, Kabul, Delhi, Ljubljana, Münster, and Bombay—as well as in the biennials of Shanghai, Sharjah, Gwangju, Taipei, Singapore, Liverpool, Chicago, Lahore, and Kochi-Muziris. Their artworks are part of the permanent collections of major museums globally. Recent shows include solos at Sharjah Art Foundation, (2022) Nam June Paik Art Center (2021), Argos Center for Art and Media, Brussels, and the De Appel Gallery, Amsterdam (2019) and performances at M+,HongKong (2023) and MoMA, New York (2023). In 2020 they were awarded the 7th Nam June Paik Centre Prize. CAMP were Forensic Architecture guest professors at Goldsmiths, London, for 2023-2024 and are visiting fellows at the Center for Experimental Ethnography at UPenn for 2024-2025.

12Gates & PAAFF's Contemporary Video Art Exhibition 2024

Experimental, Contemporary video art
South and South-West Asia, North Africa (SSWANA)

The 6th iteration of the Contemporary Video Art Exhibition celebrates contemporary video art—that is, contemporary art using recorded moving images—created by artists from South and South-West Asia, North Africa (SSWANA), as well as artists of indentured Indian descent and their diasporas. This 6th edition of the juried show will be co-presented by Twelve Gates Arts (12G) and the Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival (PAAFF). Film screenings will take place at Twelve Gates Arts Gallery on Saturday, Nov 2nd, 12 PM - 2 PM.

Subjects and themes for the exhibit include queer, controversial, poetic, abstract, political, philosophical, uncensored – anything that stretches beyond conventional. We look forward to producing a thought-provoking and inspiring exhibit to follow the well-received exhibits in 2015, 2016, 2019, 2022, and 2023 which drew submissions from contemporary artists across the globe.

Register for this event following the Eventbrite link here.

Join us on October 31st for a spine-tingling night at Twelve Gates from 6-8pm, where we’ll dive into a world of sPooooOky stories featuring ghosts, jinns, and all things eerie! Dress to impress in your wildest costumes, and let the chills and thrills ignite the Halloween spirit! We invite you to come and share your scary stories, open-mic, and with chai and cookies provided for all to enjoy!

Register through the Eventbrite!

Twelve Gates is excited to present a book launch event with Zara Chowdhary and her memoir, The Lucky Ones. On Friday, September 20th, 2024, from 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM, Zara Chowdhary and Sham-e-Ali Nayeem will be in conversation about Chowdhary’s memoir, The Lucky ones, a moving memoir by a survivor of anti-Muslim violence in contemporary India that delicately weaves political and family histories in a tribute to her country’s unique Islamic heritage.

In 2002, Zara Chowdhary was sixteen years old and living with her family in Ahmedabad, one of India’s fastest-growing cities, when a gruesome train fire claimed the lives of sixty Hindu passengers. The country’s long-simmering Hindu-Muslim tensions ignited into a three-month violent siege across Gujarat. One day, Zara was a bright teenager preparing for her school exams and making plans for her future, and the next she found herself under lockdown at home with her family, fearing for their lives as Hindu neighbors, friends, and members of civil society transformed overnight into bloodthirsty mobs. The chief minister of the state at the time, Narendra Modi, was later accused of fomenting the massacre, and yet a decade later, rose to become India’s prime minister.

THE LUCKY ONES entwines lost histories across a subcontinent, examines forgotten myths, prods at family’s secrets, and gazes unflinchingly back at a country rushing to move past the biggest pogrom in its modern history. With stunning clarity, we witness the violence through Zara’s teenage eyes, and how she and her family struggle through while locked down in their home for months. Zara also weaves in her present-day perspective as she uncovers what really happened across Gujarat in those horrific weeks and tells the stories of victims—stories that have become legendary among Indian Muslims even as they’ve been suppressed by Hindu nationalist political forces. With Modi having won re-election and the “world’s largest democracy” hurtling toward cacophonous Hindu nationalism, these stories need to be heard.

Zara Chowdhary is a writer and lecturer at the University of Wisconsin. She has an MFA in creative writing and environment from Iowa State University and a master's in writing for performance from the University of Leeds. She has previously written for documentary television, advertising, and film. She lives in Madison, Wisconsin with her partner, child, and two cats.

Sham-e-Ali Nayeem is an interdisciplinary artist, poet, sound practitioner and recovering social justice lawyer with Hyderabadi (Deccan) Muslim roots. She is the author of the poetry collection, City of Pearls (Upset Press, 2019) and has released two musical albums; City of Pearls (2019) and Moti Ka Sheher (2023) featuring self composed musical interpretations from her book. Sham-e-Ali is the recipient of the 2022 Leeway Transformation Award, the 2016 Loft Literary Center Spoken Word Immersion Fellowship, and the 1997 echoing green fellowship.

Register for this event at Eventbrite.

On Friday, September 13th, 2024, from 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM ET, at Twelve Gates Arts, we will host a musical performance by Slowspin. Her practice is grounded in North Indian classical vocal traditions, dream-folk, ambient and experimental-electronic music.

As a producer, singer/song-writer and musician, Slowspin has been a seminal member of the growing electronic music community in Karachi (Pakistan) since 2012, and has collaborated with musicians around the globe. She produces dream-folk, ambient and experimental electronic music. Her reverb drenched vocal calls and poetry in English, Urdu and Purbi, weave in and out of rhythms and textures of her environment.

Zeerak Ahmed / SLOWSPIN is a US-based Pakistani artist. She produces voice-based sculptures, site-specific installations and uniquely fragile sound collages that explore notions of identity, memory and longing. Slowspin has a distinct sound practice grounded in Hindustaani classical vocal traditions, dream-folk, ambient and experimental electronic music. Poetry and melodies in her mother tongue(s)—Urdu, Farsi, Purbi and English—build new textural soundscapes.

She is presently archiving the sonic and intellectual histories of female folk music traditions from South Asia, drawing new forms from the poetic and melodic records of her ancestors. Exploring ways of listening, composing, and performing the sounding body, her work addresses critical immaterial art.

12G POETRY SALON – JUNE 5, 2024

Dear Readers,

We are excited to delve into the theme of "Nausea” in our next 12G Poetic Circle on June 5, 2024 at 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM EST. This event will be hosted live via Zoom.

Nausea, noun

/ˈnôzēə,ˈnôZHə,ˈnäzēə,ˈnäZHə/

1. A feeling of sickness in the stomach characterized by an urge to vomit.

2. Strong aversion; disgust.

Nausea surpasses the boundaries of the tangible, summoning not only the physical ailments but the nuances of emotion, hardship, and discomfort. There are underlying stories and experiences that escape our conscious minds only for our nauseated conditions to be the ones to hearken to repressed pains, thoughts, emotions, or illnesses.

In this particular circle, we will share and discuss existing and original translations, workshop works in progress, and be in community with other lovers of poetry, literature, and music. Works in non-English languages are welcome and encouraged.

Please register for this event at our eventbrite link: 12G Poetry Salon

SHEHREZAD MAHER: THE CURFEW LOOKBOOK — JUNE 4, 2024

In partnership with Collaborative Cataloging Japan and Japan America Society of Greater Philadelphia, Twelve Gates Arts will be presenting The Curfew Lookbook event by Shehrezad Maher on Tuesday, June 4, 2024, from 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM at Twelve Gates Arts, 106 N 2nd St, Philadelphia, PA. 

Join us for a discussion about the making process of Maher’s film, The Curfew, a narrative short script that won the Islamic Scholarship Fund’s National Film Grant and the Davey Foundation film grant. Maher will share her experiences in making narrative films and have a conversation about the storyboard, lookbook, mood board, short clips, stills, and BTS photos as well as host a screening of excerpts and segments from her previous films. 

Born and raised in Karachi, Pakistan, Shehrezad Maher has screened her films at institutions and festivals such as Visions du Réel, RIDM, the LA Film Forum, Anthology Film Archives, UnionDocs, and Experiments in Cinema. She was awarded a 2023 Pew Fellowship from the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage and won the 2023 Islamic Scholarship Fund’s National Film Grant for her narrative short script, “The Curfew.” Her feature film script, “Theory of Colors,” was one of the three projects selected for the 2023 HamptonsFilm Screenwriters Lab and received the Melissa Mathison Screenwriters Fund and the Cinestory Feature Retreat’s Hagan Hicks Underrepresented Women’s Voices Scholarship. Her work has been reviewed by publications such as Sight & Sound, Afterimage, POV Magazine, and Scroll, among others. She studied visual arts at Bennington College and earned an MFA from Yale University, where she was awarded the Blair Dickinson Memorial Prize.

Register for the event at this Eventbrite link here: The Curfew Lookbook

An Afternoon Dedicated to Power / Play with Curator, Ambika Trasi, and Featured Artist, Sophia Balagamwala and Noormah Jamal — May 11, 2024

On Saturday, May 11 at 4:30-6:30 PM at Twelve Gates Arts, 106 N 2nd St, join Twelve Gates Arts for an afternoon dedicated to the exhibition Power / Play! First, curator Ambika Trasi will give an overview of the works in the show and discuss the exhibition’s themes, which will be followed by a conversation with artists Sophia Balagamwala and Noormah Jamal.

As part of this program, Twelve Gates is excited to screen Jagdeep Raina’s short animation, Fallout. Set in Southall—a working class immigrant enclave in the outskirts of London—Fallout explores the story of a woman's resilience as she heals from the trauma of abuse to nurture the unconditional bonds of love with her daughter.

Register for this event at Eventbrite: An Afternoon Dedicated to Power / Play

12G POETIC CIRCLE: SILENCE — WED 3/20 530-730 PM ET

Silence, more than the absence of sound, echoes the unspoken narratives within our lives. It encapsulates the hushed nuances of untold stories, the quiet strength amid chaos, and the unexplored depths of introspection. Formed during the Pandemic by poet and literary scholar Dr. Fatemeh Shams for faculty and graduate students at Penn, the event convenes poets, translators, and poetry lovers to share original work, translations, and/or works they love that honor a predetermined theme.

In this particular circle, we will share and discuss existing and original translations, workshop works in progress, and be in community with other lovers of poetry, literature, and music. Works in non-English languages are welcome and encouraged.

OPENING RECEPTION: Friday, March 15, 2024 — 6:00 - 8:00P ET

Power / Play presents the works of four artists, Sophia Balagamwala, Noormah Jamal, Jagdeep Raina, and Hardeep Pandhal, to consider the immediacy of illustration and animation and their capacity to subvert systems of power. Though historically, these mediums have been taken up by states and military regimes for propaganda, or to indoctrinate children, they have also been used for dissent– to confront, mock, satirize, and disrupt oppressive social constructs and political narratives. 

Vibrations from Gaza | dir. by Rehab Nazzal | 2023, 16 min
Spaces of Exception| dir. by Matt Peterson* and Malek Rasamny | 2018, 90 min 
*The Filmmaker will be present
Vibrations from Gaza and Spaces of Exception will be screening at 12G on Saturday, January 13th at 2pm. 12G will begin its program with an introduction from Matt Peterson, one of the directors of Spaces of Exception. Tickets are donation based and you can secure a seat through pre-registration

Register Here

Twelve Gates Arts (12G) is proud to present In Medias Res(idency), a group exhibition featuring works by Dara Haskins, Mia Fabrizio and Shwarga Bhattacharjee, opening on Friday November 17th, 2023 at Atelier Art Gallery.

In Medias Res(idency) is a group exhibition featuring works by Dara Haskins, Mia Fabrizio and Shwarga Bhattacharjee, opening on Friday November 17th, 2023 at Atelier Art Gallery. The artists are part of the inaugural The Philadelphia Residency (TPR) established by Twelve Gates Arts. The show's title is a Latin phrase that means "in the middle of things," and it captures the spirit of this show of work by the three artists. The word "media" in the show's title gestures to the various practices on display: everything from installations and painting to sculpture and video work. Curated by Alpesh Kantilal Patel, this exhibition is an opportunity to mark a moment - the completion of the six-month program - and to present their work so that there can be a fruitful conversation with the community. The artists have generously allowed for work at different stages - some complete and others still in formation - to be installed in the gallery. It is on view from November 17th to December 15th 2023 at Atelier Art Gallery located at 1301 N 31st St Suite 2, Philadelphia, PA 19121.

Join us on September 22nd from 5:30 - 7:30pm ET for a tour of our current exhibition, Proposals for a Memorial to Partition, led by Curator Murtaza Vali. There will also be a panel including featured artists, Sreshta Rit Premnath and Suneil Sanzgiri and guest moderator, Alpesh Patel. Featuring thirteen artists working in a variety of media, this show presents proposals for an imagined memorial to the partitions that produced the South Asian region’s modern nation-states.

Proposals for a Memorial to Partition is on view at the 12G Gallery until October 28th.

Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/proposals-for-a-memorial-to-partition-curator-tour-and-artist-panel-tickets-714805922757?aff=oddtdtcreator

Twelve Gates Arts is proud to present its upcoming Salon, featuring an artist talk with Philadelphia-based photographer, Manny Figueroa. Figueroa will be presenting photography work developed in recent years and engage in an artist panel with Remnants of Another Curator, Suzanne Persard and featured artists, Nazrina Rodjan, Sarah Rohani Drepaul, Nicholas D’Ornellas, and Vanessa Godden. The panel will discuss Figueroa’s work in context with the themes of Twelve Gates Arts’ current exhibition, all of which explore themes of Indo-Caribbean identity, history and diaspora.

Manny Figueroa is a queer Mixed-Caribbean artist of Guyanese and Puerto Rican descent operating in Philadelphia, PA and New York, NY. Their photographic journey began in 2016 at Community College of Philadelphia studying film photography, and digital imaging, ending with photojournalism. With a diverse portfolio encompassing portraits, underrepresented communities and creative figures, Manny brings a wealth of expertise to their craft. A significant focus of Manny's work lies within the project “Preservation of the Indo-Caribbean,” which celebrates and preserves the rich cultural tapestry of the Indo-Caribbean community. Through captivating photographs, Manny provides an artistic visual representation of Indo-Caribbean heritage, exploring themes of identity, heritage, and cultural preservation. Their evocative imagery captures the resilience, beauty, and unique contributions of the Indo-Caribbean diaspora, fostering dialogue, understanding, and appreciation. Manny's work invites viewers to engage and explore the diverse tapestry of the Indo-Caribbean experience.

12G POETIC CIRCLE: LABOR/WORK — THU 5/25 5:30-7:30 PM ET

The time has come to gather once again for a captivating evening of poetic immersion at the Twelve Gates Poetry Salon! We are thrilled to announce our upcoming event on Thursday, May 25th, where we will delve into the profound theme of labor. Join us from 5:30-7:30 PM ET as we celebrate the interplay between work and the poetic realm.

Labor, the driving force behind our daily lives, holds stories of triumphs, challenges, and the very essence of humanity. Through the magic of poetry, we will embark on a journey of introspection, exploration, and understanding. Prepare to be transported as we unravel the intricacies and emotions woven within the theme of labor.

Together, we will celebrate the beauty of language, the resilience of the human spirit, and the power of shared experiences. Works in non-English languages are welcome and encouraged.

The virtual option caters to individuals who are unable to attend the event in person.

Shahzia Sikander, Twelve Gates Arts and Madison Square Park Conservancy are thrilled to announce a collaborative event with prominent artists in conjunction with Sikander’s Havah…to breathe, air, life on Tuesday, May 23 from 6 to 7:30 pm on Cherry Lawn.

The program is supported by the generosity of the artist and Twelve Gates Arts.

The concert will feature:

• Arshia Fatima Haq, a Los Angeles-based artist exploring themes of embodiment, mysticism, indigenous and localized knowledge within the context of Sufism. She is the founder of Discostan, a collaborative decolonial project and record label.

• Sham-E-Ali Nayeem, a Hyderabadi Muslim American poet, musician, interdisciplinary artist, and former social justice lawyer.

• Ashwaty Chennat, an interdisciplinary performing artist, filmmaker, and educator based in Chicago who has directed and choreographed several works including contemporary movement to Stravinsky’s “Firebird Suite,” and has presented work at venues including the Art Institute of Chicago and the Music Box Theatre.

Together, the artists will showcase their works on May 23. Join us for an unforgettable program of art, music, and culture. Picnic blankets and lawn chairs are encouraged. Priority seating is available but limited.

On March 25th from 5-7pm we will get together to chat about our relationship to photographs as a group. In a roundtable setting, the artists and audience are invited to bring and share a photograph with special resonance. How do you live with that image? How has it marked your sense of family history, personal history, or even how you exist in the world? This is an opportunity to be together and think about how we live with images together.

Let's eat, drink and chat.