Visions & Voices: Birds of No Nation: Afghan Women on Art, Gender, Freedom, and Exile

“Birds of No Nation” is a three-part series celebrating International Women’s Day that explores the powerful role the arts and creativity play in global struggles for women’s rights.

Our day-long series will culminate with a dynamic conversation featuring exiled Afghan graffiti artist and muralist Shamsia Hassani, acclaimed Afghan American multimedia artist Gazelle Samizay, and renowned journalist and human rights activist Najiba Ayubi. The inspiring talk about art, creativity, and politics in light of women’s experiences in Afghanistan and global struggles for women’s equality and civil rights will be moderated by USC Dornsife professor of political science Eliz Sanasarian.

Prior to the series, the USC community will be able to stream the documentary films Ghosts of Afghanistan and Afghan Women: A History of Struggle via the USC Libraries. 

Bios:
Working under anonymous threats and attacks from government entities for her reporting on politics and women’s rights, award-winning journalist Najiba Ayubi is an Afghan journalist and activist for human rights and freedom of the press with over two decades of experience. As managing director of The Killid Group, she leads a team of reporters working in print, broadcast, and online media that includes two of the country’s most popular magazines (Killid Weekly and Mursal Weekly) and 11 radio stations with a total of 12 million listeners. She has refused calls for censorship and is passionate about independent media.

Shamsia Hassani is one of Afghanistan’s first female street artists. Working in Kabul, Hassani depicted Afghan women as strong independent figures who pursue their ambitious goals,  affirming and revealing their power and desire for joy, color, and beauty in their lives. After the Taliban takeover, she left her position as a lecturer in fine arts at Kabul University and sought refuge abroad. Organizing graffiti festivals, art classes, and exhibitions around the world, she has encouraged Afghans to express their creativity. During her 2016 residency at the Hammer Museum, Hassani painted a mural in the West Adams district of Los Angeles.

­Born in Kabul, Afghanistan, and raised in rural Washington state, Gazelle Samizay makes art that often reflects on the complexities and contradictions of culture, nationality, and gender through the lens of her bicultural identity. Her work in photography, video, and mixed media has been exhibited across the United States and internationally, including at Whitechapel Gallery, London; Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery; the California Museum of Photography, Riverside; the de Young Museum, San Francisco; the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco; and the Slamdance Film Festival, Park City. Her pieces are part of the permanent collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Center for Photography at Woodstock, New York; and En Foco, New York. 

Eliz Sanasarian is a professor at the Department of Political Science and International Relations and the Department of Gender and Sexuality Studies at USC. She is the author of Religious Minorities in Iran, The Women’s Rights Movement in Iran: Mutiny, Appeasement, and Repression in Iran, and its edited Persian translation, which won the first prize as the Best Research Book on Women in Iran. She has received various awards, including USC’s President’s Circle Faculty Award for outstanding merit in the areas of teaching, research, and service; the University’s Remarkable Women Award by the Women’s Student Assembly; and the university’s highest honor, the Associates Award for Excellence in Teaching. 

Related events:
Birds of No Nation: Live Art Session by Shamsia Hassani
Wednesday, March 8, at 12 p.m.
Alumni Park
For more info, click HERE   

Birds of No Nation: Creative Workshop with Gazelle Samizay 
Wednesday, March 8, at 5 p.m.
Friends of the USC Libraries Lecture Hall, DML 240
For more info, click HERE   

​​​​​Presented by USC Visions and Voices. Co-organized by Shahla Bahavar (USC Libraries), Sophie Lesinska (USC Libraries), and Eliz Sanasarian (Gender Studies and Political Science).