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Define American 2021 Immigrant Creative Fellowship Application

Video excerpts from portfolio | Full Portfolio PDF

Sobia Ahmad

www.sobiaahmad.com

sobiaahmad92@gmail.com

301-980-3135

01

Endure, 2016

Documentation of performance

Excerpt: 1:30 min (TRT: 3:32 min)

Location: Washington, DC

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlOATt0wyxw&feature=youtu.be

04

Small Identities (Interview Excerpts), 2019

Excerpt: 2:50 min (TRT: 30 min)

The anonymous interviews by Muslim immigrants are played via a parametric speaker along with the Small Identities installation. The speaker is installed in front of the blank tiles representing individuals who choose not to submit their ID photos.

This is an ongoing project. Through personal conversations and invitations, I collect ID photos of Muslim immigrants in the U.S. to reflect on the 2017 Travel Ban (also known as the Muslim Ban). Each blank tile represents someone who chose to not submit his or her photo. Currently, most tiles are blank. 
 

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTv6DqB_rhk&feature=youtu.be

07

Traverse (The Problem of Aliens), 2019

Black and White video with sound

Excerpt: 1:30 min (TRT: 5:10) 

This video is part of “Remove and Dissolve.” Audio of people moving through water from various sources, including the Mediterranean Sea, juxtaposed with language extracted from the 2018 Supreme Court ruling on the Travel Ban. 

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPtSH5C7Bp0&feature=youtu.be

08

POWER, 2019

Video, projection mapping on fabric suspended from the ceiling 

Excerpt: 1:00 min (TRT: 20 min)

Fabric length: 64 in. (Height of my body)

Continuing my work around the Travel Ban, “POWER” is a found poem created with extracted language from the 2018 Supreme Court ruling on the ban that refers to the president’s POWER over non-American ALIENS. I strip the language of the specificity of the ban and any references to the president. 

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okTXrLUTfnA&feature=youtu.be

Excerpt of the poem:

Power

His Power

An Extraordinary Power

Sweeping Power

Broad Power

Power to Render Judgments

Power to Espouse Principles 

Invoke His Power

His Power

Power

14

Pure, 2016

Black and white video with sound

TRT: 2:40

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9CJ1QhAlmE&feature=youtu.be

20

Conversations: Over Circles, 2020

Documentation of two-channel video installation

1:00 min excerpt (TRT: 30:00 min)

Performance location: Seyðisfjörður, Iceland (2019)

Performance duration: 3 hours

Collaboration with Monroe Isenberg

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJ6N060fFGU&feature=youtu.be

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