Full Spectrum and The powerHouse Arena present:

The Exiles
A Panel Discussion with Four Creators
Who Can't Go Home

Thursday, July 29, 7–9 PM
powerHouse Arena · 37 Main Street (corner of Water & Main St.) · DUMBO, Brooklyn
For more information, please call 718.666.3049

Join us with Iraqi-born artist, Wafaa Bilal, Siberian photographer and writer Slava Mogutin, Eritrean writer/activist, Dawit L. Petros, and Filipina journalist/writer, Ninotchka Rosca, as they discuss the unique experience of finding their way far from home. The panel will be moderated by filmmaker/writer, Zina Saro-Wiwa.

About the participants:
Iraqi born artist Wafaa Bilal is an assistant professor of art at the Tisch School of the Arts, NYU. He has exhibited his art worldwide, and traveled extensively to lecture and inform audiences of the situation about the Iraqi people. Bilal's latest dynamic installation, Domestic Tension, placed him on the receiving end of a paintball gun that was accessible online to a worldwide audience, 24 hours a day. The month-long piece spurred on-line debates and intense conversations, garnering the praise of the Chicago Tribune, which called it "one of the sharpest works of political art to be seen in a long time," and named him Artist of the Year in 2008. Newsweek's assessment was "breathtaking." As an artist, he feels that he does not have the privilege to create work that is not political. In the face of a war that stretches on, the 2004 deaths of his brother and father, and the violence in his own history, Bilal seeks to imbue his audiences with a sense of empowerment that comes from hope. In fall 2008 City Lights published Shoot an Iraqi: Art, Life and Resistance Under the Gun about Bilal's life and the Domestic Tension project. In 2010 ArtForum named his show Agent Intellect one of the best in the region.

Siberian-born photographer Slava Mogutin was exiled from Russia for his queer writings and activism at the age of 21. In 1995, he was granted political asylum in the U.S. with the support of Amnesty International and PEN American Center. He is the author of two hardcover monographs of photography, Lost Boys and NYC Go-Go, both published by powerHouse Books, and seven books of writings published in Russian. In the past decade, Mogutin's photography and multimedia work has been exhibited internationally, including at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center and the Museum of Art and Design in New York, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, and Australian Centre for Photography in Sydney.

Dawit L. Petros is a mixed media installation artist whose projects occupy a space between minimalist abstraction and autobiographical narrative. He comes from the generation of Eritreans for whom the 31-year war of liberation with Ethiopia resulted in exile; in his case, a journey from Eritrea to Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, England, and ultimately, to Canada. As a transnational subject whose worldview has been formed within multiple sites, his works engage questions of contested spaces and ideas. Petros received an MFA from Tufts University and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; a BFA from Concordia University, Montreal and; a BA in History from the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon. His works have been presented in solo and group exhibitions internationally.

Ninotchka Rosca is a Philippine-born journalist/writer whose exile from a dictatorship has become permanent. A recipient of the American Book Award, she has authored six books published in North America, Europe, and Asia. As a human rights activist and women's rights advocate, she has worked steadily for the last 20 years with AF3IRM/GabNet, an organization of women mostly of Philippine ancestry. She is a board member of Sisterhood Is Global, an international organization founded by Robin Morgan and the late Simone de Beauvoir. Rosca is currently working on feminist theory and practice for transnational women.

Zina Saro-Wiwa is a filmmaker, writer, and broadcast journalist. She is also the founder of AfricaLab, a multimedia company dedicated to transforming the way the world sees Africa. She has made three documentaries to date. Bossa: The New Wave, Hello Nigeria!, and This Is My Africa, which premiered on HBO in February 2010. Saro-Wiwa was born in Nigeria to human rights activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and Maria Saro-Wiwa, and moved to Britain at an early age. She was raised in Surrey and Sussex spending summers in Nigeria. Zina began her career in the media at the age of 16 when she wrote her first article for The Sunday Times newspaper. She has since spent the majority of her career working as a freelance researcher, producer, and presenter on BBC TV and radio. From 2004–2008, Zina was a TV presenter for the BBC's arts program The Culture Show.