Mariam Ghani

Mariam Ghani is an Afghan–American visual artist, photographer, filmmaker and social activist.

Mariam Ghani
Born1978 (age 41–42)
New York City, United States
NationalityAfghan, American
OccupationVisual artist, photographer, filmmaker, social activist
Years active2000–present
Parent(s)Mohammad Ashraf Ghani
Rula Saade

Biography

Mariam Ghani was born in 1978 in Brooklyn, New York,[1] of Afghan and Lebanese descent. Her father, Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, is president of Afghanistan.[2] Her mother, Rula Saade, is a Lebanese citizen.[3] Ghani grew up in exile and was unable to travel to Afghanistan until 2002, at age 24.[3] Her family lived in the suburbs of Maryland. Ghani earned her degrees from New York University and the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan[1] in comparative literature and video photography and installation art.[4] Ghani was an Eyebeam resident.[5][6]

Work

Since 2004, Ghani has been working on a multi-media project entitled “Index of the Disappeared”, with her long-time collaborator Chitra Ganesh.[7] The project is a record of the United States' detention of immigrants post-9/11 and public reaction to the treatment of immigrants. The project has grown and evolved over time, leading to a short film, How Do You See the Disappeared?,and a web project.[8] Some of the other materials are transcripts, some are scraps of video or radio clips.[1] She has presented her exhibits at the Transmediale Berlin (2003), Liverpool (2004), EMAP Seoul (2005), Tate Modern London (2007), the National Gallery Washington (2008), Beijing (2009) and Sharjah (2009, 2011).[4]

In addition to the Index, she has made multiple film projects, like Like Water From a Stone a 2013 project Ghani filmed in Stavanger, Norway about the transformation the country underwent with the discovery of oil; or a 2014 short film made in Ferguson, Missouri looking at the social upheaval institutionalised inequity has created in the US.[2] Other films, like The Trespassers, shown in Los Angeles in 2014, examines the problems inherent in translating languages.[9] Ghani sees her use of digital media and technology as a toolkit for creating her art.[10]

In addition to her creative art works, Ghani works as a journalist,[4] and writes and lectures on issues affecting the diaspora and as a member of the Gulf Labor Working Group, which is an advocacy group for workers building museums in Abu Dhabi.[11] She is also working as an archivist to digitize and reimage works produced between 1978 and 1991 by Afghan state filmmakers during the Communist period.[1] She has also commented that Radio Television Afghanistan has an "amazingly rich archive of audiovisual material deserving of wider attention."[12] Much of her work has a political component and speaks to systemic inequality in social systems and economics. She is both a women's rights and human rights activist.[1]

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References
  1. Liz, Robbins (20 February 2015). "Mariam Ghani, a Brooklyn Artist Whose Father Leads Afghanistan". The New York Times. New York, New York. Retrieved 1 August 2015.
  2. Pilgrim, Sophie (15 March 2015). "What links Kabul with Alaska, Norway's oil capital and St. Louis, Missouri?". Paris, France: France 24. Retrieved 1 August 2015.
  3. Goudsouzian, Tanya (1 October 2014). "Afghan first lady in shadow of 1920s queen?". Doha, Qatar: Al Jazeera. Retrieved 1 August 2015.
  4. "Mariam Ghani". Documenta HR Online (in German). Frankfurt, Germany: Hessian Broadcasting. 26 June 2012. Archived from the original on 9 October 2014. Retrieved 1 August 2015.
  5. "Mariam Ghani | eyebeam.org". eyebeam.org. Retrieved 2016-01-28.
  6. "Mariam Ghani | P.S.1 Studio Visit". momaps1.org. Retrieved 2016-02-01.
  7. Ganesh, Chitra; Ghani, Mariam (2011-09-01). "Introduction to an Index". Radical History Review. 2011 (111): 110–129. doi:10.1215/01636545-1268740. ISSN 0163-6545.
  8. Saed, Zohra; Muradi, Sahar, eds. (2010). One Story, Thirty Stories: An Anthology of Contemporary Afghan American Literature. University of Arkansas Press. pp. 10–12. ISBN 9781610752909.
  9. Miranda, Carolina A. (16 August 2014). "How L.A.'s Islamic art shows might expand our 'Middle East' vision". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2015-08-01.
  10. Heuer, Megan (September 2013). "Digital Effects". Art in America. 101 (8): 96–105. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  11. Uncommon Grounds: New Media and Critical Practices in North Africa and the Middle East. London: I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd. 2014. pp. 346–347. ISBN 9781784530358.
  12. Mohammad, Niala (31 October 2014). "The First Daughter of Afghanistan-Mariam Ghani". Across the Durand. Voice of America. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
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