Mariam Ghani

Mariam Ghani
Born 1978 (age 37–38)
New York City, United States
Nationality American
Ethnicity Afghan-American
Occupation multi-media artist, photographer, filmmaker
Years active 2000–present
Parent(s) Mohammad Ashraf Ghani
Rula Saade

Mariam Ghani (born 1978) is an American multi-media artist, filmmaker, and social activist.

Biography

Mariam Ghani was born in 1978 in 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 effecting 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]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 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. 1 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. 1 2 Goudsouzian, Tanya (1 October 2014). "Afghan first lady in shadow of 1920s queen?". Doha, Qatar: Al Jazeera. Retrieved 1 August 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 "Mariam Ghani". Documenta HR Online (in German). Frankfurt, Germany: Hessian Broadcasting. 26 June 2012. 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. (subscription required (help)).
  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. (subscription required (help)).
  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.

External links

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