cause to become: The Aesthetic Practices of Queer Diaspora Curatorial essay for cause to becomeSchool of Art Gallery, University of ManitobaApril 1 to May 14, 2021 Everyday I contend with a sense of disorientation as I struggle with anxiety, indecision, and a relentless thirst for wholeness. Understanding myself within queer diaspora and forming affinities and…
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SWANA Film Festival: Images to Move With Curatorial essay for SWANA Film FestivalSchool of Art Gallery, University of ManitobaFebruary 5 to 18, 2021 In the winter of 2018, I participated in an online poetry workshop for MENA (Middle Eastern and North African) and Muslim writers called When the Moon Walks. It was the first time…
Two poems published in Diaspora Daughter / Diaspora Dyke, self-published zine, September 2020. Diaspora Daughter / Diaspora Dyke I bear the fruits and flowers of home.Habibti sighs, savours her harvest. Habibti sighs, savours her harvest.Tells me my blood must smell of roses. My blood must taste of sun-soaked hedge roses.Our first gen bodies know light…
Published in C Magazine, Summer 2020, Issue 146 (Humour). Inside Killjoy’s Kastle: Dykey Ghosts, Feminist Monsters, and Other Lesbian Hauntings: Allyson Mitchell and Cait McKinney by Christina Hajjar I didn’t expect to like this book. I expected Inside Killjoy’s Kastle (2019) to be somewhat of an inside joke that didn’t land, that I should have…
A food culture column, created through the lens of diaspora, race, queerness, and community, published online and in print at The Uniter. Through writing, the entanglements of food, cultural identity, home and romance are made evident. Embodying food metaphors or food stories with desire sparks visions of utopia. Sex is love-making is home-making. The body…
Two poems published in Contemporary Verse 2 (The Canadian Journal for Poetry and Critical Writing), Fall 2019, Vol 42, no. 2 (Emergence). Dear body Don’t be afraid You will soon know the salts of the Mediterranean the real sharp of olives with kin and the suitcases home of paraphernalia You will come home You are…
Poem published in invisibilities, issue no. 2 (Home). Paper trace 1. the first and only time I’ve had my tarot cards read she said, something happened to you at a young age there was a death searching my face she adds or…
Introductory remarks made at Sara Ahmed * Closing The Door: Complaint as Diversity Work, October 2, 2019, West End Cultural Centre, Winnipeg, MB. Thank you. Thank you to Dr. Corinne Mason and Dr. Roewan Crowe for inviting me today, and those who spoke before me [Corinne Mason (Brandon University), Dr. Albert McLeod (Two Spirit Manitoba), Renu…
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Essay poem published in Return Atacama (2019), Gesture Series, HemiPress, 2019. ¿Dónde estás? Aquí. / Where are you? Here. This body a shelter This body a shelter; a site of memory. Intergenerational inheritance is the beauty and the pain of displaced peoples—they say you can write stories from bone memory. Back when we came to Canada I thought I learned this…
Poem published in Prairie Fire: a Canadian magazine of New Writing, Summer 2018, Vol 39, No. 2 Tumbleweed Mom said we come from the mountain people in Beqaa valley and I wonder if all those winds wrapped her tumbleweed here Mom says she will retire somewhere hot to rest easy and give her skin the sun…
A response to Andi Sharma’s The quiet tragedy of forgetting your first language, CBC, November 24, 2017. The quiet tragedy of forgetting your first language: A response ‘Over time, without really noticing, we all lost our mother tongue.’ “We walk around holding two worlds within us and the war that rages inside of us is fought…
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Exhibition review of Since We Last Spoke for the Flux Writing Program. Flux Gallery, 27 October – 4 November 2017 JANUARY 9, 2018 SINCE WE LAST SPOKE; AN INVITATION Sophie Sabet’s Since We Last Spoke is a three-channel video installation, self-described as “exploring the intricacies and tribulations of a modern Iranian-Canadian home.” With its goal…
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Essay with performance stills published in Paperwait, Volume 20, aceartinc (2017-18), p. 63-64. Christina HajjarSalt StainPerformanceVideography and editing by Hassaan Ashraf2018 Salt Stain Mom picked so many grapeleaves last spring. She reconnected with a cousin who owns a Lebanese restaurant and pickles the leaves to use through the year. She decided to pick an abundance…
Article published in The Uniter, Vol 72, No. 8 (Nov 2, 2017). Two Spirit & QPOC creatives write back Survival, celebration, representation On October 20-22, 2017, the University of Winnipeg hosted a weekend conference, “C2C: Two-Spirit (2S) & QPOC (queer People of Colour): A Call to Conversation with LGBT and Allies.” Organized by Drs. Chantal Fiola…
Poem published in From the Root, Spring 2017, issue 4 (Home). Kitchen Pedagogy In the kitchen she tells me stories what it was like Her narratives interrupted by life stuff – the baby, the phone, her sub-stories intermittent with her instructions I am tunnel vision: pen. paper. To record her hand’s memory Of ratios for…
