Neshma Friend, has never shied away from political topics. Her music and ideas, refined over a trilogy of albums, find expression in the persona of Micropixie, an alien come to Earth to realize she has settled on a planet riven with strange and terrible ideas like misogyny, xenophobia, racism, and a host of other human … Read More
Kalaashakti rerouted the exploitative objectives of institutions like colonialism, EuroAmerican control over land, resources, knowledge, and cultural identity, and heteropatriarchy the dominance of men and heterosexual norms, through meditative pauses and re-embodiment. These practices loosen the grip of colonial and heteropatriarchal messages and framings inscribed into our breath and bodies that tell us, as Muslim … Read More
Creating Kalaashakti, a series of workshops centered on spiritual activism and healing, was a personal labor of love. The spiritual activism of these workshops was an experiment in a different kind of anti-violence, one that increased our inner fortitude to be with suffering and know it intimately, and open ourselves to healing in community — … Read More
With my project OBJECTIFICATION MEETS BODY, I wanted to discuss the objectification of breasts. Strictly speaking, it is not the breasts that are objectified, but the woman’s body through the breasts, or the fact that she has breasts. The size and shape of breasts become a synonym for womanhood, attractiveness and, ultimately, worth. This perception is harmful … Read More
“My Choice,” the infamous video released by the #VogueEmpower campaign in 2015, creates a narrative arc through visual and auditory spectacle. The two and a half minute film featuring Bollywood darling Deepika Padukone begins with slow shots cutting between a seemingly heterogenous group of ninety nine women. The music is sombre, ominous. The women are … Read More
The woman’s face is invisible, but see her long, angled limbs spread to the sides. She stands elegantly on tiptoes like a dancer frozen in the middle of a maneuver. Her most prominent feature, though, is her crotch, adorned with a bright red, jewel encrusted inverted heart, out of which long, thick threads spill like … Read More
From Rosie the Riveter to Kali to Mother India, how empowerment takes many forms. Shreyas R. Krishnan is a designer and illustrator originally from Chennai, India, whose creative journey has taken her across continents. The stops on this route, sojourns in places like Ahmedabad, Milan, Bangalore, and Baltimore, are woven into what she calls an ever-evolving … Read More
Afghanistan has a rich and diverse musical history, with influences incorporated from local folk cultures, the high classical traditions of the neighboring Indo-Persian worlds, and popular music from continents away. Unfortunately, that musical culture has also come under attack over and over. Public performance and broadcasting was heavily regulated since well before the Taliban regime took … Read More
Sonita Alizadeh, a young and talented rapper and activist, went from an impoverished life as a teenaged Afghan refugee in Iran to rapping on the stages of summits for social change around the world. The documentary Sonita, now available on Netflix, tells her story. https://medium.com/media/908b8a398c22ca36eee011c25646ec68/hrefhttps://medium.com/media/908b8a398c22ca36eee011c25646ec68/href Sonita lives with her sister and niece in a rented flat … Read More
How the Women’s Movement forgets about most of us. On Friday, I stood among my peers at a rally that called for action against the Trump administration and the hatred it was bound to perpetuate nationally. People of color, queers of color, trans folks of color, women, immigrants, socialists all shared their experiences and asserted solidarity … Read More
