Mara Ahmed
Woman with black hair, a black coat, and a silver necklace smiling into the camera, with a gray cinderblock wall in the background
Born
Lahore, Pakistan
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)Interdisciplinary artist and filmmaker
Known forNeelum Films
Notable workThe Muslims I Know, Pakistan One on One, A Thin Wall, The Injured Body

Mara Ahmed is an interdisciplinary artist and filmmaker based on Long Island, New York. Her production company is Neelum Films.[1]

Early life and education

Mara Ahmed was born in Lahore, Pakistan. She has lived and been educated in Belgium, Pakistan and the United States. She has an MBA and a second master's degree in Economics. She worked in corporate finance before launching her career in film.[2]

Film career

Ahmed's film training began at the Visual Studies Workshop and later continued at the Rochester Institute of Technology. She began to shoot her first documentary, The Muslims I Know, in 2006. The film is a reaction to the post 9/11 negative stereotyping of Muslims in mainstream media.[3] The Muslims I Know premiered at the Dryden Theatre in 2008. It received fiscal sponsorship from New York Women in Film and Television.[4]

Ahmed's second film is the short documentary, Pakistan One on One. It is a survey of public opinion in Pakistan about issues of interest to Americans.[5] The film premiered in 2011 at the Little Theatre. Both films have been broadcast on PBS[6][7] and have been screened across the US and also abroad.[8]

A Thin Wall, Ahmed's third documentary, was released in April 2015.[9] It focuses on the Partition of India in 1947 and derives lessons that remain relevant today. Shot on both sides of the border, in India and Pakistan, A Thin Wall is a personal take on partition rooted in stories passed down from one generation to another.[10][11] It is written and directed by Mara Ahmed and co-produced by Indian filmmaker Surbhi Dewan. Both filmmakers are descendants of families displaced by the 1947 Partition.[12][13] The film's post-production was crowdfunded on Indiegogo. It was successful in reaching a wide audience.[14]

A Thin Wall premiered internationally in May 2015 at the Bradford Literature Festival, UK.[15] It was introduced by British poet John Siddique, whose work is featured in the film.[16] It was also an official selection of the Seattle South Asian Film Festival,[17][18] San Francisco's 3rd i Film Festival,[19] the New York Indian Film Festival,[20] the South Asian Film Festival of Montréal,[21][22] the Mustard Seed Film Festival in Philadelphia,[23] and Vancouver's South Asian Film Education Society's Film Screenings for the 70th Anniversary of the Partition. The documentary is now available on Amazon Video[24] and Mubi.

Ahmed was interviewed about A Thin Wall on Rochester Indymedia,[25] Voice of America[26] and RCTV.[27]

She gave a Ted talk about the meaning of borders and nationalism, entitled The Edges that Blur, in 2017.[28] That same year, Ahmed began work on a new documentary inspired by Claudia Rankine's book, Citizen: An American Lyric. The Injured Body: A Film about Racism in America focuses on micro-aggressions via interviews with a diverse group of women of color. It is slated to be released in 2022. The film is fiscally sponsored by New York Women in Film and Television.[29]

Art exhibitions

Mara Ahmed works in a variety of media including film, photography, painting, collage and writing. Her work was featured in the 2005 documentary “Identity Through Art” along with five other Asian-American artists.[30]

Ahmed's artwork was exhibited at the Kinetic Gallery, at SUNY Geneseo, in 2008. “Synthesis” was a multi-media exhibition that captured Ahmed's journey from Pakistan to the US through the fusion of diverse cultures and materials.[31]

In 2014, her collage work, which incorporates painting, photography, and fabrics from Pakistan and India, was exhibited at the Colacino Gallery, at Nazareth College in New York. Titled “This Heirloom”, it was a multi-media exhibit that combined art and film and endeavored to forge a link to the past via personal and collective histories.[32]

"This Heirloom" was shown at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center in 2018. It was part of a retrospective of Ahmed's work.[33] The art series was also exhibited at the Douglass Auditorium, for Current Seen, Rochester's Small Venue Biennial led by Rochester Contemporary Art Center in 2019.[34]

Activism and writing

Ahmed is involved in social justice and community work. She writes and presents regularly on topics related to Pakistan,[35][36][37] Islamophobia,[38][39][40] micro-aggressions,[41] diversity education and cultural competence.[42]

Ahmed is featured as a changemaker in Rochester Museum and Science Center's exhibit, The Changemakers: Rochester Women Who Changed the World. The exhibit, prompted by the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment recognizing the right of American women to vote, highlights stories of women visionaries and trailblazers from Rochester, New York.[43]

The Warp & Weft

The Warp & Weft[44] is a transnational, multilingual archive of stories that seeks to capture the 2020 zeitgeist. Ahmed began working on it in September 2020. Audio stories, along with responses to the archive by artists, musicians and dancer performers, were released in collaboration with Rochester Contemporary Art Center over the course of their exhibit "Last Year on Earth," March 5 - May 8, 2021. On February 26, Ahmed spoke about her archive project with Abi Rose of Reclaiming the Narrative.[45]

Articles

References

  1. ↑ Neelum Films - Documentaries by Mara Ahmed
  2. ↑ Mara Ahmed on WXXI Public Broadcasting System
  3. ↑ Rees, Andy (14 March 2008). "The Muslims I Know, An RIT alum challenges stereotypes with a Pakistani-American documentary". RIT's Reporter.
  4. ↑ "The Muslims I Know, by Mara Ahmed". New York Women in Film.
  5. ↑ Interview on WXXI's 1370 Connection
  6. ↑ The Muslims I Know on WXXI
  7. ↑ Pakistan One on One on WXXI
  8. ↑ Progressive Film Club
  9. ↑ A Thin Wall at the Little Theatre
  10. ↑ Chatterji, Shoma A. (25 May 2014). "An unusual celluloid document". The Sunday Tribune, India.
  11. ↑ "India-Pak Partition Stories In Their Own Words". The Weekly Voice, Mississauga, Canada. 10 May 2014.
  12. ↑ Lubitow, Adam (31 March 2015). "Film Review: A Thin Wall". Rochester City Newspaper.
  13. ↑ Ramakrishnan, Swetha (26 June 2014). "Shadow lines". The Indian Express.
  14. ↑ "Help comes in small measures". The Hindu. 9 June 2014.
  15. ↑ Bradford Literature Festival
  16. ↑ "Readings, Appearances & Events". JohnSiddique.co.uk. 17 May 2015. Archived from the original on 13 October 2015. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
  17. ↑ Seattle South Asian Film Festival
  18. ↑ Chaudhary, Nabeeha (12 October 2015). "Tasveer's 10th film festival brings South Asian geopolitics home". The Seattle Globalist.
  19. ↑ 3rd i Film Festival
  20. ↑ New York Indian Film Festival
  21. ↑ South Asian Film Festival of Montréal
  22. ↑ Shahid, Sarah (21 November 2016). "Comfort food for the diaspora". The McGill Daily.
  23. ↑ Mustard Seed Film Festival in Philadelphia
  24. ↑ A Thin Wall on Amazon Video
  25. ↑ Interview on Rochester Indymedia
  26. ↑ Interview on Voice of America
  27. ↑ Interview on RCTV-15
  28. ↑ The Edges that Blur | Mara Ahmed | TEDxRochester
  29. ↑ The Injured Body: A Film About Racism in America - NYWiFT
  30. ↑ Curtis, Erica (11 May 2005). "Who we are - Greater Rochester's Asian community is growing fast and celebrating". City Newspaper.
  31. ↑ "Synthesis at Kinetic Gallery". SUNY Geneseo. 8 October 2008. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
  32. ↑ "Nazareth College's Colacino Gallery to showcase film-inspired collages of Mara Ahmed in a multi-media exhibit". Nazareth College Arts Center. 2 January 2014.
  33. ↑ The Oakland Asian Cultural Center welcomes filmmaker, writer, artist and social activist MARA AHMED
  34. ↑ This Heirloom part of Current Seen Rochester Small Venue Biennial
  35. ↑ "Culture Under Siege in Pakistan with BBC's Fergus Nicoll". WRVO Public Media. 28 October 2011.
  36. ↑ "Filmmaker Mara Ahmed to discuss Pakistan". Hobart and William Smith Colleges. 2 March 2012.
  37. ↑ "South Asia Speaker Series". Asian Studies at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. Fall 2010.
  38. ↑ "Hot Topic: Muslims in Our World" (PDF). The Messenger - Third Presbyterian Church. April 2012.
  39. ↑ Howard, Georgia (25 October 2010). "Teaching Realities of Islam and American Muslims". The Clarion - Sinclair Community College.
  40. ↑ "Muslim Journeys: Bridging Cultures Bookshelf & Let's Talk About It". Drake Memorial Library at SUNY Brockport. Spring 2014.
  41. ↑ "The Injured Body at the Medical Humanities Noon Conference". University of Rochester Medical Humanities. 8 January 2021.
  42. ↑ The College at Brockport's 14th Annual Diversity Conference
  43. ↑ "Illuminating Untold Stories Through Film". Rochester Museum and Science Center. October 2020.
  44. ↑ The Warp & Weft
  45. ↑ "The Warp and Weft" Weaves Stories Reflecting on an Unprecedented Year | Art Blooms | Reclaiming the Narrative
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