https://maryjirmanussaba.net Mary Jirmanus Saba Fri, 04 Oct 2024 14:40:03 +0000 https://maryjirmanussaba.net en https://maryjirmanussaba.net/Home Tue, 17 May 2022 00:51:40 +0000 Mary Jirmanus Saba https://maryjirmanussaba.net/Home Mary Jirmanus Saba https://maryjirmanussaba.net/Unsettling-Massachusetts Fri, 04 Oct 2024 14:40:03 +0000 Mary Jirmanus Saba https://maryjirmanussaba.net/Unsettling-Massachusetts Unsettling Massachusetts︎︎︎ download Zine <img width="1060" height="1072" width_o="1060" height_o="1072" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/21d375f40f9d993b2b508617c715a78360eedc06516f9b42cae48e3788b716f7/Unsettling-MA---sunflower.png" data-mid="219211563" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/21d375f40f9d993b2b508617c715a78360eedc06516f9b42cae48e3788b716f7/Unsettling-MA---sunflower.png" /> Film, performance and public history project. 2021 - ongoing How do lines on a map inform, and disinform? What does shifting our perspective do? Unsettling Massachusetts is a research, film and public history project delving into the history and persistence of Indigenous people and land use change in and beyond areas now known as Medford, Arlington, Winchester, Malden, Somerville, Cambridge, Boston, Masachusetts — regions both intimately familiar to the artists and contested sites of placemaking central to Greater Boston’s emergence as an academic, technological and political hug from the early 1600s onward. This collaboration among geographer and artist Mary Jirmanus Saba, Massachusetts Sagamore Faries Gray and Native Historian Balraj Gill culminates in a film, a zine series, an annotated land-use map, and walking tour and a public video projection along the Mystic River exploring the past and present of Indigenous Massachusetts. Project and public programming supported by the Arlington Commission for Arts and Culture, the Medford Arts Council, Malden Cultural Council and the Massachusetts Cultural Council. <img width="1158" height="1661" width_o="1158" height_o="1661" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/1082f63f42b42166ad059f18799bb993a99d4a4d84d0873201457d819abca248/Unsettling-Massachusetts-Zine-No.-1_Page_1.jpg" data-mid="219211879" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/1082f63f42b42166ad059f18799bb993a99d4a4d84d0873201457d819abca248/Unsettling-Massachusetts-Zine-No.-1_Page_1.jpg" /><img width="4240" height="2832" width_o="4240" height_o="2832" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ba5eb35713af163c0e3040e17469d9a7d2ef210cd4ee74596b460bbb7eaa3b4f/river-bank-circle.jpg" data-mid="219211609" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/ba5eb35713af163c0e3040e17469d9a7d2ef210cd4ee74596b460bbb7eaa3b4f/river-bank-circle.jpg" /><img width="4240" height="2832" width_o="4240" height_o="2832" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/6bcd004d6d5a72b76292796adb59017e94ce692b29768f3bacf4ad4a221a28ab/close-up-on-zine.jpg" data-mid="219211610" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/6bcd004d6d5a72b76292796adb59017e94ce692b29768f3bacf4ad4a221a28ab/close-up-on-zine.jpg" /><img width="4240" height="2832" width_o="4240" height_o="2832" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d437c4992b8e1ff6fafbd2353978b742c7e019f0cce1e082105734d4db8db14b/people-on-mountain-2.jpg" data-mid="219211611" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/d437c4992b8e1ff6fafbd2353978b742c7e019f0cce1e082105734d4db8db14b/people-on-mountain-2.jpg" />Stills from public performance, community discussion, walking tour and Zine launch in November 2023. <img width="1380" height="880" width_o="1380" height_o="880" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/46f698ef53222c91a115d8b23fe5092937a64e1a007e7732640ee5e5228672da/Unsettling-MA---Lake.png" data-mid="219211565" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/46f698ef53222c91a115d8b23fe5092937a64e1a007e7732640ee5e5228672da/Unsettling-MA---Lake.png" />In 2021, I dreamt I was using an analogue camera which allowed me to see Massachusetts as persistently Native land. As a self-taught videomaker, I was terrified by analogue. It is too permanent, too expensive. At a friend’s prodding, I borrowed a 16mm camera from the Harvard Film Study Center where I was a fellow. I son learned the camera was originally purchased by Robert Gardner, a founder of visual anthropology whose influential ancestors were among the first Europeans to settle in Massachusetts. Gardner participated as a filmmaker in colonial expeditions to places like “Dutch New Guinea,” and he established the Film Study Center along with John Marshall, whose family wealth came from military contractor Raytheon. I managed to film one eleven minute roll of film before my fellowship ended in 2022.This uncanny confluence set off an investigation leading from (and away from) the Gardner family, the role of camera technology in colonialism and Harvard leading me to my collaborators, Massachusetts Sagamore Faries Gray and Native Historian Balraj Gill, and back to the original impulse to unsettle our relationships to this land. <img width="1386" height="882" width_o="1386" height_o="882" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/2eb026851116dd68cdad748916fbb6b296f789e51c07c110cef27e58beba6595/Unsettling-MA---Golf.png" data-mid="219211566" border="0" data-scale="100" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/2eb026851116dd68cdad748916fbb6b296f789e51c07c110cef27e58beba6595/Unsettling-MA---Golf.png" /><img width="1368" height="882" width_o="1368" height_o="882" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/58268519919fccbf18ff0b70c4b0e87dd8a1f211da828ae2cf148b378d72caf6/Unsettling-MA---Lemon.png" data-mid="219211564" border="0" data-scale="99" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/58268519919fccbf18ff0b70c4b0e87dd8a1f211da828ae2cf148b378d72caf6/Unsettling-MA---Lemon.png" /> https://maryjirmanussaba.net/Notes-for-a-Return Thu, 26 May 2022 15:21:49 +0000 Mary Jirmanus Saba https://maryjirmanussaba.net/Notes-for-a-Return NOTES FOR A RETURN&nbsp;ملاحظات للعودة <img width="4792" height="2700" width_o="4792" height_o="2700" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ced575abe507fd0e859fe6f09b5f266a9e8202aebad8c32d7a5b8b4aa3837ff2/EGGPLANT_NOTES_FOR_A_RETURN.jpg" data-mid="143738552" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/ced575abe507fd0e859fe6f09b5f266a9e8202aebad8c32d7a5b8b4aa3837ff2/EGGPLANT_NOTES_FOR_A_RETURN.jpg" /> <img width="2880" height="1600" width_o="2880" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/0621de57f4f244d8efab4cc48b371fc6d53aed29a8ae8b8cad25311189d5569d/NotesforaReturn_MJS_Image6.png" data-mid="143739764" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/0621de57f4f244d8efab4cc48b371fc6d53aed29a8ae8b8cad25311189d5569d/NotesforaReturn_MJS_Image6.png" /> <img width="2492" height="1410" width_o="2492" height_o="1410" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/91d7c7d440dd9d207d6a8a9c5ad66e39078d64880a8bbcb74afecf6e3820aead/NotesforaReturn_MJS_Image5.png" data-mid="143739763" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/91d7c7d440dd9d207d6a8a9c5ad66e39078d64880a8bbcb74afecf6e3820aead/NotesforaReturn_MJS_Image5.png" /> <img width="3300" height="1854" width_o="3300" height_o="1854" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/92e58e454383132980c03568a5f82ebc0ffd54ae2f231c9eb6ad6c30b9bfdf45/NotesforaReturn_MJS_Image2.png" data-mid="143738956" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/92e58e454383132980c03568a5f82ebc0ffd54ae2f231c9eb6ad6c30b9bfdf45/NotesforaReturn_MJS_Image2.png" /> Nada and Rabieh are a Palestinian couple living far from the possibility of a homeland. A meditation on time, memory, and the distance from a dream.&nbsp; A dialogue with Masao Adachi and Koji Wakamatsu’s (1971) Red Army/PFLP: A Declaration of World War.︎watch film Experimental Fiction | 2014 HD Video | Stereo Sound | 14 minutes Tricontinental Media&nbsp; Distribution inquiries : tricontinentalmedia @ gmail.com https://maryjirmanussaba.net/A-Feeling-Greater-Than-Love Tue, 17 May 2022 00:51:40 +0000 Mary Jirmanus Saba https://maryjirmanussaba.net/A-Feeling-Greater-Than-Love A Feeling Greater Than Love شعور أكبر من الحب <img width="2100" height="1181" width_o="2100" height_o="1181" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a26cb1ab7d44dacb6ea74faf267280709a5f228fb89012c4ae3d8f3188f5c25a/AFGTL_Saniya.jpeg" data-mid="143542086" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a26cb1ab7d44dacb6ea74faf267280709a5f228fb89012c4ae3d8f3188f5c25a/AFGTL_Saniya.jpeg" /> <img width="2100" height="1181" width_o="2100" height_o="1181" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a26cb1ab7d44dacb6ea74faf267280709a5f228fb89012c4ae3d8f3188f5c25a/AFGTL_Saniya.jpeg" data-mid="143542086" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a26cb1ab7d44dacb6ea74faf267280709a5f228fb89012c4ae3d8f3188f5c25a/AFGTL_Saniya.jpeg" /> <img width="3000" height="1688" width_o="3000" height_o="1688" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ebf395822dce09d1f8f5273204fd6c66948f1639734050f0fe86c951f2c4aa22/hands-in-field0.jpg" data-mid="143643356" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/ebf395822dce09d1f8f5273204fd6c66948f1639734050f0fe86c951f2c4aa22/hands-in-field0.jpg" /> <img width="1920" height="1080" width_o="1920" height_o="1080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/318fc083739a27386bd6df8b76aa967158244076ca5f14fe762a9d46b204d66e/Strike_committee.jpg" data-mid="143643826" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/318fc083739a27386bd6df8b76aa967158244076ca5f14fe762a9d46b204d66e/Strike_committee.jpg" /> <img width="3000" height="1688" width_o="3000" height_o="1688" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/68da5a2ba9ce7a30bb1d0112b62e6f0837ab276f2e1142f3222eaec153e75f8a/NAJIBCAR_1.jpg" data-mid="143644057" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/68da5a2ba9ce7a30bb1d0112b62e6f0837ab276f2e1142f3222eaec153e75f8a/NAJIBCAR_1.jpg" /> <img width="1920" height="1080" width_o="1920" height_o="1080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/468d3dfe7e3d058d2e798bf4835f084a7f3664d4c4183b7f1c31a8feef6d021e/Hands0.jpg" data-mid="143643360" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/468d3dfe7e3d058d2e798bf4835f084a7f3664d4c4183b7f1c31a8feef6d021e/Hands0.jpg" /> <img width="1920" height="1080" width_o="1920" height_o="1080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f9165120ab569ad7bcb644cc9761d289191343845c26c56507a195afc62798c5/Abu-Adeeb-COLOR-CORRECTED0.jpg" data-mid="143643355" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/f9165120ab569ad7bcb644cc9761d289191343845c26c56507a195afc62798c5/Abu-Adeeb-COLOR-CORRECTED0.jpg" /> In her directorial debut, Mary Jirmanus Saba deals with a forgotten revolution, saving from oblivion bloodily suppressed strikes at Lebanese tobacco and Gandour chocolate factories. These events from the 1970s, which held the promise of a popular revolution, and with it women’s emancipation, were erased from collective memory by the country’s civil wars. Rich in archival footage from Lebanon’s militant cinema tradition, the film reconstructs the spirit of that revolt, asking of the past how we might transform the present.&nbsp;︎view trailer FIPRESCRI Critics Prize, Berlinale Forum 2017. Essay Film | 2017 HD Video, 16mm, 8mm | 5.1 and Stero Sound | 93 minutesTricontinental Media ProductionsDistribution inquiries: tricontinentalmedia @ gmail.com https://maryjirmanussaba.net/Essential-Work Thu, 26 May 2022 14:38:40 +0000 Mary Jirmanus Saba https://maryjirmanussaba.net/Essential-Work ESSENTIAL WORK︎view video <img width="1760" height="982" width_o="1760" height_o="982" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9c125e095e6958a77280822fed758766603b6c04d0b5a34c5bdd27be5131058a/Screen-Shot-2021-05-05-at-8.51.53-PM.png" data-mid="143729628" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/9c125e095e6958a77280822fed758766603b6c04d0b5a34c5bdd27be5131058a/Screen-Shot-2021-05-05-at-8.51.53-PM.png" />Video Short | 2020HD &amp; Cell phone video | Stereo Sound | 9 minutes Coproduced with Paul Abowd for the Intercept When employees at Amazon and FedEx were deemed essential in the midst of a coronavirus pandemic, they formed a national organizing effort to press for workplace safety, hazard pay, and a voice on the job. Weeks later, when protests against police brutality spread across the country after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, essential workers took to the streets, calling out their bosses for trying to turn Black Lives Matter into a corporate PR slogan. A video work in support of labor organizing in collaboration with Adrienne Williams, “Jose,” Rusty McGee and Vanessa Bain and Workers Collective.&nbsp; &nbsp; The video emerged from organizing around the coordinated May 1 2020 walkout organized by Amazon, Fedex, Instacart and Shipt workers. <img width="2978" height="1672" width_o="2978" height_o="1672" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/0f9873cfb1d078bb703662bd1ca1ea860eb5e59cfd45f10d74442c6b520a0244/Screen-Shot-2022-05-31-at-16.44.24.png" data-mid="144191131" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/0f9873cfb1d078bb703662bd1ca1ea860eb5e59cfd45f10d74442c6b520a0244/Screen-Shot-2022-05-31-at-16.44.24.png" /> <img width="1336" height="754" width_o="1336" height_o="754" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c96321cb360dac802e212ac01eaf5deded4ed5edc2602c52d2f56542c997f9f1/Screen-Shot-2022-05-31-at-16.39.21.png" data-mid="144191061" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c96321cb360dac802e212ac01eaf5deded4ed5edc2602c52d2f56542c997f9f1/Screen-Shot-2022-05-31-at-16.39.21.png" /> <img width="1334" height="754" width_o="1334" height_o="754" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/394bb1b03cf39a953fcfcb69a61e884d9a9b381cf5039d6a19d58db3855965d6/Screen-Shot-2022-05-31-at-16.40.58.png" data-mid="144191002" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/394bb1b03cf39a953fcfcb69a61e884d9a9b381cf5039d6a19d58db3855965d6/Screen-Shot-2022-05-31-at-16.40.58.png" /> <img width="1700" height="1686" width_o="1700" height_o="1686" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/412a425621b1d9060fd8b9efdccf2094bafdaf9661759bd0a9a4dd5ab24a6ade/Screen-Shot-2022-05-31-at-16.45.20.png" data-mid="144191272" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/412a425621b1d9060fd8b9efdccf2094bafdaf9661759bd0a9a4dd5ab24a6ade/Screen-Shot-2022-05-31-at-16.45.20.png" /> https://maryjirmanussaba.net/We-Felt-Again-That-Everything-is-New Tue, 17 May 2022 00:51:41 +0000 Mary Jirmanus Saba https://maryjirmanussaba.net/We-Felt-Again-That-Everything-is-New We Felt Again That Everything Is New︎︎︎ download poster as PDF <img width="3024" height="4032" width_o="3024" height_o="4032" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b796582bc9b6f3cbecaf2f84a86a874eff9d601c1803c4e1d28658241fea9fa3/EverythingIsNew_MJS_Image5.jpg" data-mid="143649142" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b796582bc9b6f3cbecaf2f84a86a874eff9d601c1803c4e1d28658241fea9fa3/EverythingIsNew_MJS_Image5.jpg" />Installation View AUB Art Galleries “100 Years of Communism” Exhibit | 2017 ︎︎︎ NEW: Read Essay “What’s the use of a Strike Archive? On image archives, surplus and solidarity” in Critical Times, Winter 2022 <img width="3508" height="4961" width_o="3508" height_o="4961" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/46670d6d74fec672baa6d79c004be83f905115c8183e17ba5c307a4b1199976a/Poster_Everything_New_SQUARE_BORDER.png" data-mid="143649141" border="0" data-scale="100" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/46670d6d74fec672baa6d79c004be83f905115c8183e17ba5c307a4b1199976a/Poster_Everything_New_SQUARE_BORDER.png" />Pitying my strange obsession, the archivist allows me into the poorly lit back room, where I flip through the cardboard boxes: hundredsof images of our labor history. What is the temporarity of social protest? Of the contemporary need to re-present images of struggle? What is produced when these images translate, move, mutate?An archival, installation, dissertation and book project. Supported by the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture and the Arab Council for the Social Sciences. 2013 - present <img width="3078" height="2053" width_o="3078" height_o="2053" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/033e9aecb8022cd02b5a685f5d614001adf306e2b35369360f409897b63c9582/12-IMG_0816.JPG" data-mid="143651606" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/033e9aecb8022cd02b5a685f5d614001adf306e2b35369360f409897b63c9582/12-IMG_0816.JPG" /><img width="1200" height="1800" width_o="1200" height_o="1800" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/70c54131cacad41945bacc6ce40115b2179399266e95ca2e871391f7d236de50/Daralsayyad_image_5_front.png" data-mid="143651607" border="0" data-scale="76" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/70c54131cacad41945bacc6ce40115b2179399266e95ca2e871391f7d236de50/Daralsayyad_image_5_front.png" /><img width="3052" height="2057" width_o="3052" height_o="2057" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/208bf5d452a7681ec303e922bce8496489b51a71be14de905e4d1f81a1cd4faa/IMG_0831.png" data-mid="143675380" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/208bf5d452a7681ec303e922bce8496489b51a71be14de905e4d1f81a1cd4faa/IMG_0831.png" /> <img width="5634" height="3756" width_o="5634" height_o="3756" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d5180650c216b7fb7e2514e9832a1c5de14c544e64ad9fdde951c35119110cc8/Daralsayyad_image_8.png" data-mid="143651608" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/d5180650c216b7fb7e2514e9832a1c5de14c544e64ad9fdde951c35119110cc8/Daralsayyad_image_8.png" /><img width="4154" height="3524" width_o="4154" height_o="3524" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ec4a7a0925eab281b8d1606de0a8908c77a519a1e546278a25a10acf39cfbd9a/Daralsayyad_image_3.jpg" data-mid="143675205" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/ec4a7a0925eab281b8d1606de0a8908c77a519a1e546278a25a10acf39cfbd9a/Daralsayyad_image_3.jpg" /><img width="5640" height="4254" width_o="5640" height_o="4254" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/1239c8a3f4eba8579686ab6771cf94f7ad7ff0ec084a9423107eb082e27822ec/Daralsayyad_image_16_front.jpg" data-mid="143675376" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/1239c8a3f4eba8579686ab6771cf94f7ad7ff0ec084a9423107eb082e27822ec/Daralsayyad_image_16_front.jpg" /><img width="2519" height="5598" width_o="2519" height_o="5598" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/74d6a8615b61ba13f9cf6ce1f5ec2a5731fff50908d84412d84814fd142955bc/Daralsayyad_image_6_front.jpg" data-mid="143751040" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/74d6a8615b61ba13f9cf6ce1f5ec2a5731fff50908d84412d84814fd142955bc/Daralsayyad_image_6_front.jpg" /><img width="2448" height="3264" width_o="2448" height_o="3264" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/75167c7306377375e01a1349781f845232db620613ea1a7d7c21d02f37b17071/IMG_0805.jpg" data-mid="143675377" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/75167c7306377375e01a1349781f845232db620613ea1a7d7c21d02f37b17071/IMG_0805.jpg" /> https://maryjirmanussaba.net/Join-the-Art-Union Thu, 26 May 2022 15:47:16 +0000 Mary Jirmanus Saba https://maryjirmanussaba.net/Join-the-Art-Union JOIN THE ART UNION!︎︎︎join the union (coming soon) <img width="960" height="1280" width_o="960" height_o="1280" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c10d393c4b3a79c6de42500634d05f8d42f79880ef51cb80f5435d2ebfe963da/artist-union-greece.png" data-mid="144187505" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/960/i/c10d393c4b3a79c6de42500634d05f8d42f79880ef51cb80f5435d2ebfe963da/artist-union-greece.png" />Performance by correspondenceAccomplices Artist Gathering | 2019 <img width="2244" height="1647" width_o="2244" height_o="1647" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/cb226115b22dee44444307a1b36dc1dfa1538fe697f160fea485491d78923153/International-Artists-Union-2.png" data-mid="144187506" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/cb226115b22dee44444307a1b36dc1dfa1538fe697f160fea485491d78923153/International-Artists-Union-2.png" /><img width="2244" height="1647" width_o="2244" height_o="1647" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/cb226115b22dee44444307a1b36dc1dfa1538fe697f160fea485491d78923153/International-Artists-Union-2.png" data-mid="144187506" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/cb226115b22dee44444307a1b36dc1dfa1538fe697f160fea485491d78923153/International-Artists-Union-2.png" />A performance and aspirational organizing project for workers of all kinds in art. One day, it may also be a union. 2015 - present <img width="2244" height="1647" width_o="2244" height_o="1647" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/cb226115b22dee44444307a1b36dc1dfa1538fe697f160fea485491d78923153/International-Artists-Union-2.png" data-mid="144187506" border="0" data-scale="100" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/cb226115b22dee44444307a1b36dc1dfa1538fe697f160fea485491d78923153/International-Artists-Union-2.png" /><img width="2244" height="1647" width_o="2244" height_o="1647" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/cb226115b22dee44444307a1b36dc1dfa1538fe697f160fea485491d78923153/International-Artists-Union-2.png" data-mid="144187506" border="0" data-scale="100" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/cb226115b22dee44444307a1b36dc1dfa1538fe697f160fea485491d78923153/International-Artists-Union-2.png" /><img width="2244" height="1647" width_o="2244" height_o="1647" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/cb226115b22dee44444307a1b36dc1dfa1538fe697f160fea485491d78923153/International-Artists-Union-2.png" data-mid="144187506" border="0" data-scale="100" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/cb226115b22dee44444307a1b36dc1dfa1538fe697f160fea485491d78923153/International-Artists-Union-2.png" /><img width="2244" height="1647" width_o="2244" height_o="1647" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/cb226115b22dee44444307a1b36dc1dfa1538fe697f160fea485491d78923153/International-Artists-Union-2.png" data-mid="144187506" border="0" data-scale="100" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/cb226115b22dee44444307a1b36dc1dfa1538fe697f160fea485491d78923153/International-Artists-Union-2.png" /><img width="2244" height="1647" width_o="2244" height_o="1647" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/cb226115b22dee44444307a1b36dc1dfa1538fe697f160fea485491d78923153/International-Artists-Union-2.png" data-mid="144187506" border="0" data-scale="100" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/cb226115b22dee44444307a1b36dc1dfa1538fe697f160fea485491d78923153/International-Artists-Union-2.png" /><img width="2244" height="1647" width_o="2244" height_o="1647" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/cb226115b22dee44444307a1b36dc1dfa1538fe697f160fea485491d78923153/International-Artists-Union-2.png" data-mid="144187506" border="0" data-scale="100" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/cb226115b22dee44444307a1b36dc1dfa1538fe697f160fea485491d78923153/International-Artists-Union-2.png" /><img width="2244" height="1647" width_o="2244" height_o="1647" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/cb226115b22dee44444307a1b36dc1dfa1538fe697f160fea485491d78923153/International-Artists-Union-2.png" data-mid="144187506" border="0" data-scale="100" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/cb226115b22dee44444307a1b36dc1dfa1538fe697f160fea485491d78923153/International-Artists-Union-2.png" /><img width="2244" height="1647" width_o="2244" height_o="1647" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/cb226115b22dee44444307a1b36dc1dfa1538fe697f160fea485491d78923153/International-Artists-Union-2.png" data-mid="144187506" border="0" data-scale="100" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/cb226115b22dee44444307a1b36dc1dfa1538fe697f160fea485491d78923153/International-Artists-Union-2.png" /><img width="2244" height="1647" width_o="2244" height_o="1647" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/cb226115b22dee44444307a1b36dc1dfa1538fe697f160fea485491d78923153/International-Artists-Union-2.png" data-mid="144187506" border="0" data-scale="100" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/cb226115b22dee44444307a1b36dc1dfa1538fe697f160fea485491d78923153/International-Artists-Union-2.png" /> Do We Need An International Artists Union?* *This is an artwork, not an organizing effort. Whereas … Art is not a luxury, but rather an integral part of human experience, serving necessarily a social function, and thus should be available to all as both viewers and makers. … Cultural work is work and should be recognized, valued, and compensated as such. … Artistic genius is a myth of the colonial patriarchy. All ideas build upon past formulations and all production is inherently collaborative, based as it is on frequently invisible labor, whether this is in the form of uncredited production assistance or devaluing of reproductive labor (cooking, cleaning, child-rearing), that makes it possible for some to create at a more efficient rate than others, and nearly impossible for still others to have the time / freedom / resources to undertake publicly-recognizable cultural work altogether.** … Success is not a zero-sum game, and while we have been taught as artists that others’ success is an affront to our own, in fact active cooperation generates more resources and possibilities than we could ever dream of alone. … As individual artists and cultural workers, we are left to negotiate rates and working conditions on a case to case basis, with little or no recourse in the settling of pay / copyright / maternity / harassment / discrimination conflicts, making the transformative possibilities of cultural work a frequent afterthought. … As Arab artists, we are too often expected to provide content fitting orientalist frameworks and changing geopolitical agendas, with each new period directing resources to certain identities / nationalities only to move elsewhere following changing (often colonial) priorities over which we have no control, and further pitting us against each other for access to even basic resources. This situates us as tokens in a global market that values different versions of the same old thing, over work addressing questions urgent to our lives and communities. … There are precedents for such organizational forms on different scales across the Arab world (Baghdad Artists Conference; Lebanese Cinema Technicians Union; Egyptian Syndicate of Plastic Arts). While these all have many shortcomings and major problems, they are nonethless useful precedents, and show cooperation is not a foreign import, it can be revived, expanded, and refined. An International Cross-Sectorial Artist Union would allow us to set and enforce artist fees, production wages, and standards that meet our costs of living and of production. It would provide us greater collective and individual power to negotiate with art and academic institutions and other powerbrokers, and to imagine and create structures and forms for a regional cultural production that is necessary, meaningful, locally-relevant — even transformative — of everyday life, our communities, our world. Join the Union. ** All ideas in this document have been stated before in some form by well-known and obscure alike (Tania Bruguera, Karl Marx, Silvia Federici, Samir Amin, many others we haven’t heard of). https://maryjirmanussaba.net/A-Labor-Theory-of-Artistic-Value Thu, 26 May 2022 00:38:30 +0000 Mary Jirmanus Saba https://maryjirmanussaba.net/A-Labor-Theory-of-Artistic-Value A LABOR THEORY OF ARTISTIC VALUE︎︎︎ Instagram Version <img width="4096" height="2160" width_o="4096" height_o="2160" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/947b1f8ac86188405ab15926990d7ae0ef29eabd00c770ce2c1387472a1730e8/Mary-and-K-on-bed.png" data-mid="143727110" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/947b1f8ac86188405ab15926990d7ae0ef29eabd00c770ce2c1387472a1730e8/Mary-and-K-on-bed.png" />A Labor Theory of Artistic Value is a Film (2024) and Lecture Performance Performance comissioned by Mophradat and Kaai Theatre Brussels for 2022 Read the Room Theatre Festival. Text in collaboration with Natasha Soobramanien and performed by Krystel Khoury. Performed by Raisa Galofre in 2024 at Savvy Contemporary in BerlinFilm version of A Labor Theory of Artistic Value premiered in 2024 at Arkipel Garden of Delights in Jakarta and has screened in artspaces, classrooms, and kitchens across the world. It is currently available on Cryptofiction platform.Produced with support from the Film Studies Center at Harvard. Mothers can do anything! (an artist tries to find the time to write a theoretical text)&nbsp; ****Currently Playing on Cinelogue Platform.***** Exploring the intersections between gendered reproductive labor that keeps the cultural space in motion, and the reproductive labor of motherhood, A Labor Theory of Artistic Value, on Mothering and Art combines video projection, a delivered text, and a performative act of cultural maintenance.An art work across Performance, Film and Text.&nbsp; View Krystel Khoury’s performance&nbsp;trailer here Download One Pager&nbsp; 2021 - present <img width="4000" height="6000" width_o="4000" height_o="6000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8768aa502387e4efb7870163476c255730a81d21c5c38f204ea714ee8483c4a3/20220326-2108-DSC02839-A7M3.jpg" data-mid="143727112" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/8768aa502387e4efb7870163476c255730a81d21c5c38f204ea714ee8483c4a3/20220326-2108-DSC02839-A7M3.jpg" />&nbsp;Photo by&nbsp;Korneel De Feyter. <img width="6000" height="4000" width_o="6000" height_o="4000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7e3048aa57dad44f689684558d536902564a79aaa50c1f019c7a2ea46ea08543/20220326-2100-DSC02697-A7M3.jpg" data-mid="143727113" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/7e3048aa57dad44f689684558d536902564a79aaa50c1f019c7a2ea46ea08543/20220326-2100-DSC02697-A7M3.jpg" /><img width="4096" height="2160" width_o="4096" height_o="2160" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/6d922ebde25caa07526b84cbe4002e18f354ee476ace67a126754f45199f7208/laundry.png" data-mid="143728200" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/6d922ebde25caa07526b84cbe4002e18f354ee476ace67a126754f45199f7208/laundry.png" /><img width="3164" height="1730" width_o="3164" height_o="1730" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e778f94234429f64b9eb082b973833f90a5ab9114d53d7a8980b9dd91f13889b/Screen-Shot-2022-03-23-at-10.09.44.png" data-mid="143727416" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/e778f94234429f64b9eb082b973833f90a5ab9114d53d7a8980b9dd91f13889b/Screen-Shot-2022-03-23-at-10.09.44.png" /> <img width="1920" height="1014" width_o="1920" height_o="1014" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ebb3b6dd5c35f97fc20d900bf0495a783c7e03f27b6bae263752b1321660ff2c/Hands-on-diaper0.png" data-mid="143728211" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/ebb3b6dd5c35f97fc20d900bf0495a783c7e03f27b6bae263752b1321660ff2c/Hands-on-diaper0.png" /> Photos by&nbsp;Korneel De Feyter and Mary Jirmanus Saba. https://maryjirmanussaba.net/Texts Thu, 21 Mar 2024 13:31:28 +0000 Mary Jirmanus Saba https://maryjirmanussaba.net/Texts Texts What's the Use of a Strike Archive?: On Image Archives, Surplus, and Solidarity In Critical Times (2022) 5(3):633-687 Read Here&nbsp; <img width="2448" height="3264" width_o="2448" height_o="3264" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9fa7e6071fe554a51e1206bcaa17588926cc903bd73c464939217b1aeec427ef/IMG_0805.JPG" data-mid="207265032" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/9fa7e6071fe554a51e1206bcaa17588926cc903bd73c464939217b1aeec427ef/IMG_0805.JPG" /> The Labor of Women’s Resistance: Image, Narrative, Alternative Futures (2022) In Malek Abisaab and Michelle Hartman eds. Women’s War Stories. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press. Read Here <img width="2156" height="1576" width_o="2156" height_o="1576" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8d389c3cb419cd4eb6c9ab3830ec9c8c6803949251aeea64fffe46bb8e35fb84/Women-men-and-children-resist.png" data-mid="207266767" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/8d389c3cb419cd4eb6c9ab3830ec9c8c6803949251aeea64fffe46bb8e35fb84/Women-men-and-children-resist.png" /><img width="800" height="450" width_o="800" height_o="450" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/5c51f64ffbdfc838e6366db32304adfb9c09ab276ca2e9428c23d9de1059c2a6/most-beautiful-of-mothers-copy.jpg" data-mid="207266995" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/800/i/5c51f64ffbdfc838e6366db32304adfb9c09ab276ca2e9428c23d9de1059c2a6/most-beautiful-of-mothers-copy.jpg" /> The Power of Withholding Labor: The General Strike as Cultural Work (2021) In The Public Source. 20 January 2021 Read Here <img width="720" height="405" width_o="720" height_o="405" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/dbe54226ad9d0a47dc01a8fc272b26ce0f7436ec640d953f1437b3eed42839f4/generalstrike_2019.jpg" data-mid="207266679" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/720/i/dbe54226ad9d0a47dc01a8fc272b26ce0f7436ec640d953f1437b3eed42839f4/generalstrike_2019.jpg" /><img width="481" height="271" width_o="481" height_o="271" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/801ea5a8a2a0c1d73f8c7ad6071298801b520d67cfe55cd485598652a6b6a08f/annahar_strike-archive.jpg" data-mid="207266193" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/481/i/801ea5a8a2a0c1d73f8c7ad6071298801b520d67cfe55cd485598652a6b6a08f/annahar_strike-archive.jpg" /> https://maryjirmanussaba.net/About Tue, 17 May 2022 00:51:40 +0000 Mary Jirmanus Saba https://maryjirmanussaba.net/About Mary Jirmanus Saba <img width="622" height="599" width_o="622" height_o="599" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/4ac7b02d315099c76dfee24918d737bc4364f9160070d58b63b66f6216c0e52a/id-pic-jirmanus.jpg" data-mid="143648109" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/622/i/4ac7b02d315099c76dfee24918d737bc4364f9160070d58b63b66f6216c0e52a/id-pic-jirmanus.jpg" /> Mary Jirmanus Saba, PhD is a geographer and artist who works across film, text,&nbsp; performance and political organizing to explore questions of labor, care and social movement in the Arab world and internationally. Mary is a member of the artist coop, ta3waniya / cooperative, a founder of the mutual aid Franz Fanon Cultural Fund. Her feature film debut A Feeling Greater Than Love won the FIPRESCI Critics Prize at the 2017 Berlinale Forum. With roots in community media, from 2006-2008, Mary coproduced the weekly broadcast television program Via Comunidad with Collective Vientos Del Sur in Ibarra, Ecuador. Mary’s various works have screened widely at venues ranging from community centers in South Lebanon, to the ICA in London, Anthology Film Archives in New York, Arkipel in Jakarta, Havana Flim Festival and student encampments throughout the US and UK. Mary’s research and artistic practice has been supported by the US National Science Foundation,&nbsp; the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture, Fonds Internacional de la Francophonie, the Annenberg Innovation Lab at USC, the Harvard Film Studies Center among others. Mary’s work has been featured in E-flux journal, the Brooklyn Rail, TIME Magazine, The New Yorker and numerous academic publications. Mary holds a PhD in Geography from the University of California, Berkeley and is a UC Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Santa Cruz. contact: maryjirmanus @ gmail.com PHOTO BY TAREQ RANTISI