Tour Dates Added, Autostraddle, Lilypad Performance!

It’s been a busy month in the Najva Sol-verse. But here’s the updates:

1. Tour dates have been added to the Love, Inshallah  book tour! The feedback has been absolutely *breathtaking* and I’m proud to announce that I’ll be reading at:

HARVARD (Cambridge)- Feb 13th, COLUMBIA (NYC)- Feb 15th, BLUESTOCKINGS (NYC)- Feb 16th, and BUSBOYS & POETS (DC)- Feb 20th.

2. Autrostraddle included my work in a post called “Art Attack: 100 Queer Women Artists in Your Face!”- next to a mix of goddesses Catherine Opie & Frida Khalo, and other google-worthy emerging artists. I’m number 21- with a Lomography photo of  Katie, the  Babes of NPR blog-mastermind.

3. I’m playing a show with my Let Bloom EP partner-in-song Natti Vogel at the Lilypad in BOSTON this SUNDAY FEB 12th.  More information on the show is available here.

I’ve been counting so many lucky stars that I’m amassing galaxies in my pockets.

Gowanus Art Fair, Voice of America x Love, InshAllah book tour

2012 is turning out to be a busy year!

-First things first, this Saturday night in Brooklyn I’m a featured video artist at the Gowanus Art Fair thrown by  Collective BK with Lowbrow Society‘s own Gwynn Galitzer. It promises to be an unmissable night of one-act plays, local bands, visual art, burlesque, and endless surprises held at the 12,000-square-foot steel mill turned artists space, Gowanus Ballroom.

[film still from "Somewhere Elsewhere" 2011

-Second, despite multiple brushes with Voice of America Iran (I made a visit to spit-fire comedy & politics show Parazit’s live taping  & have cameo in the Mapriya Art segment)- I haven’t ever been a main subject of a piece. That is, till today! Wonderful vegan filmmaker Arash  interviewed me as part of a piece about the Love, InshAllah anthology. We drank fresh veggie juice, talked about queerness & Islam, and chatted about my story “The First Time.”

-Which leads me to….Love, InshAllah book release events on the east coast are being announced. Current dates: Harvard University (MA)/ Feb. 13th + Bluestockings Bookstore (NY)/Feb 16th. I’ll update with more info ASAP!

-Lastly, if you want a daily dose of art- I’m still updating my Tumblr with photos all the time. Happy browsing!

2012 Begins

There are more projects in the works than I can mention here, but suffice it say that 2012 is brimming with possibility.

Meanwhile, my entire Coco and Breezy shoot is up on my Tumblr.

Also, just last week, I got to visit the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art and see  a piece I helped with at Elsewhere Collaborative  on display as part of the “Here” exhibit . 

More photos of the piece can be found on my facebook!

Welcome to the future!

Publishing, Publishing: I Don’t Like Mondays & Love, Inshallah

Two new publications to announce:

First- my photo of Coco & Breezy with their new Rainy Day line sunglasses is featured with their interview on I Don’t Like Mondays- a fashion blog & site based out of New York.

Second, I’m in a brilliant anthology that’s being released Jan 24th by Soft Skull Press. My essay has to do with all my firsts- and is framed within the context of my Muslim upbringing. The anthology, “Love, Inshallah: The Secret Love Lives of American Muslim Women” is already getting incredible press & reviews from folks I admire like Reza Aslan (Tablet & Pen, No god but God), Wajahat Ali (Domestic Crusaders) and Michael Muhammed Knight (The Taqwacores). Find out more about it on the website, or pre-order a copy today!

MIX Festival x Coco && Breezy x Brooklyn Museum x Molly Crabapple x LES Girls Club x MTV International

Since the last update I’ve been running up & down the east coast making magic. Please remember you can always get up-t0-date info on my facebook page!

For those of you who missed it, here’s what’s happened

1. I performed in collaboration with Damien Luxe & Heather Acs in an hour long performace piece called “The Bearded Lady, The Bald, & The Blonde” at La Mama Galleria, curated by the brilliant Dept. of Transformation as a MIX festival offshoot! I was next to such talent, especially queer art legend Christy C. Road.
2. I had the chance to shoot futuristic design duo Coco & Breezy, with killer style & makeup team-Dori Jay & Hayden Dunham.  Here’s a photo from the set:
3. I was fancy & important with Kae Burke of House Of Yes, and helped her run a workshop at the Brooklyn Museum making 1920′s accessories!
4. The Molly Crabapple posters and CDs for  Let Bloom EP (the kickstarter-funded album w/ Natti Vogel & I) arrived! Now you won’t have long till they are in your hands. (I’ll post a link for those interested in buying either item, ASAP!) 
5. I guest-taught poetry at the Lower East Side Girls Club after-school program & convinced some young girls that it IS important to know what a metaphor is.
6. And last but not least, MTV International followed me and Lowbrow Society for the Arts around as possible subjects for a new documentary on Brooklyn Creatives!

That’s all for now! But so many more announcements are forthcoming. Stay tuned!

Fall: Chicago, NYC, The (virtual) World

Where haven’t I been this fall?

I just returned with from the Hand In Glove conference  in Chicago with my co-directors at Lowbrow Society for the Arts. We spent the whole weekend at art boot-camp, inspired by conversations with folks from organizations across america such as Creative Time, Southern Exposure, FEAST, The Soap Factory, and The Franklin Furnace. Future collaborations coming your way!

Meanwhile, I’ve begun to exist as an artist on facebook! If you want to keep up with where I am & what I’m creating, please, feel free to “like” me. I made multiple short films, and built a cinema booth before leaving Elsewhere. There’s a screenshot of one of them below, clicking it will take you to the film on my facebook page.

Finally, right now I’m at a cute organic cafe in New York, sitting with a room full of creative types and prepping to perform produce this incredible event on thursday with McSweeny’s writer Casey Plett.  More details can be found on the Lowbrow site.

Now I’m off to buy treats & tricks for the show, and watch the leaves turn golden.

September, so far: Artist-in-Residence at Elsewhere

Where am I now?

Last week I arrived in quaint Greensboro, NC to do a one-month Residency at Elsewhere Collaborative- a living museum set inside an old thrift shop. I’ll be here till October 15th, the night of their big fundraiser!
My project here is a bit of a secret- but meanwhile we are doing all sorts of events.

Here’s a few photos from last friday, where I played Dr. Heart Doctor- checking up on visitor’s hearts, and doling out metaphors and inspirational quotes as prescriptions.

Queer Art Honor Roll: Iran, Museum

I feel like it’s the end of the semester and I made the queer dean’s list. Why?

1. I’ve been nominated in the Fine Art category of the  Sepas Award, alongside the incredibly talented Tara Inanloo in London! The Sepas Award is organized in Toronto   and

“honours an Iranian individual or an organization whose work has needed an appreciation toward securing the full enjoyment of the culture and human rights of Iranian queer communities and motivate others to get involved and be proud.”

2.  A photo of my Head to the Hills exhibit from the first Pop Up Museum of Queer History is featured on the front page of their website. You should check it out, and if you’re in NYC- drop by their new show: Pop-up Soho.

Summer Update: Bitch Magazine, Artisphere, SF Bay Guardian, Interfaith

Where has the summer gone?

I have been all over the US, involved with many projects. Here’s a taste of what’s been happening:

SUMMER ISSUE OF BITCH MAGAZINE

I have 2 pieces in the most recent issue of  feminist pop-culture magazine Bitch! You can find my interview with Altercation, Big Freedia‘s backup dancer & a short snippet about magical artist Monica Canilao. Support the magazine and buy the issue directly from them.

ARTISPHERE

June 18th, I performed to a full house with Regie Cabico as part of Sulu DC‘s Gay and Fillipino Pride event at the awe-inspiring Artisphere in Rosslyn.

SF BAY GUARDIAN

May 19-21st, I was part of Lowbrow Society’s Great Expectations experience performance installation extravaganza, which was a San Francisco Bay Guardian pick of the week. If you missed the event, more photos can be found here.

INTERFAITH

As a queer Iranian artist with a secular Muslim background, I was invited by  a friend to attend an afternoon of speeches by the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, including a certain charismatic Eboo Patel from the Interfaith Youth Core.  Since many religious groups have a history of prejudice when it comes to LGBTQ folks- this conference was an opportunity to meet a few current leaders and question how they plan to create faith-based projects that are safe for all faiths (including humanist/spiritual), genders, and sexual identities.

New Event: Great Expectations Art Show

I’m moving away from San Francisco in June, but not before curating (on behalf of Lowbrow Society) and participating in this amazing event:

Great Expectations: The Opulence of Alone

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – On Thursday May 19^th and Friday May 20^th, from 7-10pm, The SchoolHouse, 1592 Market St, will be transformed from bare walls to Great Expectations, a lush art happening created by four boundary-bending queer artists inspired by the opulence of being alone.