The Yard
A collective multilingual exploration of solidarity through the body archive.
May Aldabbagh (Associate Professor of Social Research at NYUAD and Director of Haraka Lab) will present a lecture performance titled Sukoon/سكون. In collaboration with artist Sara Brahim, the event will include participation from students, academics, and community members to engage in a collective multilingual exploration of solidarity through the body archive.
May Aldabbagh is an Associate Professor of Social Research and Public Policy (NYUAD). Her current research is on the body archive, decolonial pedagogies, gender, and migration/mobility. She runs a podcast called Talking Texts which features interviews with a new generation of academics, researchers, and artists in the Gulf region. She has received fellowships from the Center of Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (Stanford), The Women and Public Policy Program (Harvard), and The Global Institute for Advanced Study and Tisch School of the Arts (NYU). She runs Haraka Lab which bridges the Social Sciences and Arts at NYUAD and curated the first exhibition for al Mawrid Arab Center for the Study of Art at NYU in New York called Sharbaka: Entanglement/Attunement. Al-Dabbagh holds a BA from Harvard University and a PhD from the University of Oxford. For more information on publications and The Body Archive see: www.mayaldabbagh.org.
Sarah Brahim is a visual and performance artist working across many mediums to present work rooted in experiences of the body. She trained as a professional performer, teacher, and choreographer at San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, and received a BFA (Hons) from London Contemporary Dance School. Her research-based practice began while studying medicine at university, as she continued practicing and performing. The pursuit to understand the body through every possible lense-- biological, physiological, experiential, and more-- led her to receive her BS from Oregon Health and Science University, with a focus on medical anthropology and public health. In her work, Brahim examines how gestures of the body create a language that can be used to voice grief, metamorphosis, the unseen form, and our relationship to the natural world. Transformation through movement is reflected in her works that explore questions of embodiment and cycles of connection, whether social, spatial, or spiritual.
The Yard | 8PM