Wednesday, September 11, 6:30-8:30pm
A.I.R. Gallery, 155 Plymouth St, Brooklyn, NY

A.I.R. Gallery and Qinza Najm will be hosting a performance: Tabdeeli , followed by an artist talk. Tabdeeli – “transformation” in Urdu – explores cultural, political, and personal displacement. The immersive choreography represents a journey that depends on the individual’s determination to reach his/her full potential, and to change his/her narrative from one of trauma to healing. The artist considers this performance as a live extension of her paintings. Notions of resisting, pushing against, and transcending barriers, taboos, and social and political norms are expressed through the movements of the dancers, as they stretch and struggle within the translucent fabric that covers their bodies like a cocoon, constricting their movements. The metaphor of stretching refers to the expansive metaphysical stretching of awareness and the broadening of one’s consciousness. The dancing bodies are integrated with projected images of the artist’s painting and collages, based on images of artifacts of violence and healing she collected over the years. This performance was first performed at the Queens Museum, NYC, in 2017.

Text written by Curator Tami Katz-Freiman.

For more information, please view Najm’s webpage here