ADMISSION:
Admission is free and open to current USC students only. Reservations required.

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DESCRIPTION:
“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.

In the second session of the day, USC students are invited to participate in an intimate workshop led by Gazelle Samizay, whose photo and video work examines the contradictions of culture, nationality, and gender. The acclaimed Afghan American multimedia artist will conduct a “Bi-Lingering” letter-writing workshop to explore that in-between space where one belongs to two (or more) languages and cultures. Supplies will be provided, and no experience is necessary.

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. 

Bio:
­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. 

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: Afghan Women on Art, Gender, Freedom, and Exile
Wednesday, March 8, at 7 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). 

​​​​​Art: Gazelle Samizay, Wisdom, 2019