Lisa Ross, Still from Epic Failure, 2018, Work in Progress. Courtesy of Lisa Ross.
Image of Still from Epic Failure, Work in Progress by Lisa Ross, 2018.

Talk


I Can’t Sleep: Discussion on Diaspora with Lisa Ross and Mukaddas Mijit

January 13, 2019
AAA in A, '09-'21

43 Remsen St. Brooklyn, NY

Artists Lisa Ross and Mukaddas Mijit gave a presentation on their collaborations in both video and photography and their work documenting Uyghur culture for nearly 15 years. As part of this discussion, Ross and Mijit considered modern and contemporary artists in the Uyghur Diaspora and examined several questions: What is meant by Uyghur culture and can it survive outside of its homeland? What is the responsibility of Uyghur artists living around the world to maintain, transmit, and share their culture?

Lisa Ross is a New York-based artist. She received an MFA in Visual Arts from Columbia University. She has exhibited in the U.S., Europe, and Asia including the Rubin Museum of Art, New York; Fotografiska Museum, Sweden; Rencontres D’Arles Foto Festival, and La Vielle Charite, France; Tianshui Biennale, China, University of London, SOAS, Brunei Gallery, UK; UC Berkeley and Harvard University. Ross has taught at Parsons School of Design and Columbia University, and pioneered a photo program for LGBT and homeless youth in NYC. She has worked on photography projects in North Africa, Central Asia, China, Europe and Azerbaijan. Ross received a Hayward Prize through the American Austrian Foundation, is 2016 grantee of Asian Cultural Council, was a 2016 Artist-in-Residence at the Watermill Center, and a 2018 Artist in Residence at View Art Gallery, Lanzhou, China. Her solo exhibition I can’t sleep: Homage to a Uyghur Homeland opens January 17th at Miyako Yoshinaga.

Mukaddas Mijit is an anthropologist, dancer, filmmaker, and music manager, born in Urumchi in the Uyghur Autonomous Region in North West China. Her documentary film on a Uyghur Rock Band was presented in several film festivals including Festival de film ethnographique – Jean Rouch, Al Jazeera Documentary film Festival, and Innsbruck Film Festival. As a dancer she has performed at festivals such as Singapore O.P.E.N Festival, Fes – Sacred Music Festival, Morgenland Festival Osnabrück, among others. She has been a collaborative Resident Artist at the Watermill Center and performed at the Seattle Asian Art Museum. With a PhD from the University of Paris – Nanterre received in 2015, she is currently teaching anthropology and ethnomusicology at the University of Toulouse Jean Jaurès and coordinating the Festival Peuples et musiques au Cinéma, in Toulouse, France.

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This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council.