August 4–September 1, 2007
“Sultana’s Dream,” SAWCC’’s 10th Anniversary Exhibition

ARTISTS: Samira Abbassy, Jaishri Abichandani, Fariba Alam, Mouna Andraos, Siona Benjamin, Anjali Bhargava, Anna Bhushan, Mareena Daredia, Sharmila Desai, Chitra Ganesh, Asha Ganpat, Mariam Ghani, Rajkamal Kahlon, Emily Jacir, Mona Kamal, Jesal Kapadia, Sarita Khurana, Swati Khurana, Yamini Nayar, Vicky Moufawad-Paul, Carol Pereira, Sreshta Premnath, Fatima Al Qadiri, Mona Al Qadiri, Sa’dia Rehman, Prerana Reddy, Ela Shah, Asma Ahmed Shikoh, Shahzia Sikander, Sonali Sridhar, Anahita Vossoughi, 6 + women’s art collective, and SAFED STUDIO.

at Exit Art
475 Tenth Avenue at 36th Street
New York, NY
212-966-7745

Opening Saturday August 4, 2007
6 - 7 pm, Special Preview Reception, minimum $30.00 donation, free exhbition catalogue, complimentary wine and complimentary admission to the benefit party from 9-12 PM

7 - 9 pm, FREE ADMISSION to exhibition opening

9 - 12 pm, Benefit Party at Exit Underground, featuring DJ Rekha (Basement Bhangra/Bollywood Disco) and DK aka Bollygirl (AVAAZ/GOONDA), $15.00 donation

As part of Sultana’s Dreams, SAWCC’s 10th Anniversary Exhibition, EXIT ART will host related Public Programs:

Thursday, August 9, 7 - 9 pm
Experimental Film and Video Program, Co-Presented by 3rd I New York Film Collective

Curated by Prerana Reddy, former SAWCC Board member and Director of Public Events at the Queens Museum of Art

Thursday, August 16, 7 - 9 pm
Reading of South Asian Women Writers, Co-Presented by the Asian American Writers' Workshop

Featuring authors Beena Ahmad, Abha Dawesar, Shahnaz Habib, Tahira Naqvi, and Purvi Shah

Curated by Anjali Goyal, SAWCC Board member and Programs coordinator at the Asian American Writers’ Workshop

Thursday, August 23, 7 - 9 pm
Visual Artists and Curators Panel

Curated by SAWCC Board members Mareena Daredia and Sa'dia Rehman of Bose Pacia Gallery

Past Events

Friday, May 18, 6:30 PM
Slide Slam

Have you ever wanted to better understand the process behind an artist's work? Have you ever wanted to hear an artist contextualize her own work? Join us for an informal slide slam of artists presenting their current work.

Featuring: Jaishri Abichandani, Fariba Alam, Rina Banerjee, Mareena W. Daredia, Chitra Ganesh, Swati Khurana, Yamini Nayar, and Sa'dia Rehman

$10 at the door
Proceeds will help fund SAWCC's 10th Anniversary Visual Arts Exhibition!
Open to the public, ALL are invited

at The Asian American Writers’ Workshop
16 West 32nd Street (btwn Broadway & 5th Ave)
10th Floor

Friday, April 20, 7 PM
An Evening of Short Readings

Featuring: Yesha Naik (emcee), Chitra Aiyar, Alka Bhargava, Sunu Chandy, Dulani, Sarah Husain, Shashi Khorana, Sunita Mukhi, Sandhya Nankani, Alpa Patel, and Bushra Rehman

$10 Suggested Donation
Proceeds to benefit SAWCC's annual literary festival this fall!
Open to the public, ALL are invited

at The Asian American Writers’ Workshop
16 West 32nd Street (btwn Broadway & 5th Ave)
10th Floor

The South Asian Women’s Creative Collective (SAWCC) presents:

In a State of Emergency? Women, War and the Politics of Urban Survival
November 30th 2006 – December 9th 2006
at Alwan for the Arts
16 Beaver Street, 4th Floor, NY, NY 10014
(In the Financial District between Broadway & Broad)
Mon-Fri: 5pm-8pm, Sat-Sun: noon-5pm
T: 212-967-4318
www.alwanforthearts.org

We live in increasingly violent times. Heralded by globalization, such aggression inextricably marks the urban landscape. Altered states of cartographic realities overlap onto a specifically conservative agenda, expressing itself onto women's lives, bodies, and experiences. These landscapes also house, as a result of the recent wars, a resurgence of religious fundamentalism, and mass movements of individuals through exile and migration, which has led to a new kind of politics of violence.

The nine artists in the exhibition, Meherunnisa Asad, Salma Arastu, Kiran Chandra, Mona Kamal, Bindu Mehra, Carol Pereira, Maryum Saifee, Tahera Seher Shah and Vandana Sood, negotiate spaces of conflict, violence, issues of identity, commodification, claustrophobia, and the politics of the body within their work. Using several mediums including photography, video, installations and animation, these women continue to resist and reshape the world on their own terms within their individual idioms while still maintaining the fragility of their bodies juxtaposed to the beautifully harsh urban realities.

This exhibition alludes to Walter Benjamin's concept of "State of Emergency," which can be interpreted in two ways: through the eyes of the oppressor who uses this position as a way to maintain his oppression, or what Benjamin considers as the "real state of emergency," a struggle by the oppressed to resist the oppressor. By evoking the latter, the exhibition "State of Emergency" explores the manner in which South Asian women navigate their lives through the urban spaces and difficult social terrains.

If you are interested in presenting/facilitating please contact Saira Khokhar.