East Side Freedom Library and Iraqi and American Reconciliation Project invite you to a conversation

Unpacking Creative Dialogue: A Conversation with an Iraqi and American Artist Collective.

Friday, March 10, 2023, 7:00-8:30pm

Register here to join this event in person or on Zoom.

Join Minneapolis-based curator and arts organizer Tricia Heuring, and the artists and translators of the Her Story Is collective in a conversation about creating shared spaces for the unfolding of artistic creation and collaboration. Explore the inspiration and process behind recent collaborative works, gain insight into the complex art of translation, and engage intimately with what it means to be in dialogue with one another in the aftermath of war and occupation. 

Unpacking Creative Dialogue is a free event and open to the public. An Iraqi tea and sweets reception to follow. 

About the Artists: 

Tricia Heuring is a Thai American curator and arts organizer. As the co-founder of Public Functionary, a Minneapolis-based multidisciplinary arts platform, she supports emerging artists in developing resources, studio practice and exhibitions. Advocacy for systemic change and equity in the Minneapolis-St. Paul arts sector has put her in collaboration with grant-makers, public art, and social justice organizations. As a thought leader and cultural advisor she has been a featured speaker, moderator or joined panels at TedxUMN, Pollen, Walker Art Center, Common Field, Springboard for the Arts, Creative Mornings, American Swedish Institute, and the Coven, among others. 

Her Story Is is a collective of independent women writers and artists from the United States and Iraq who collaborate on projects aimed at expanding linguistic, artistic, and cultural boundaries in response to conflict and its aftermath, with a focus on centralizing the experience of women.

Featured Her Story Is artists:

Anne Loyer, a founder of HER STORY IS, has been developing exchanges with Iraqi artists since 2010. Much of her work starts with research, and she believes the best art experiences are akin to the best educational experiences: they transform our understanding, and address issues of personal and cultural significance. In addition to her work with HER STORY IS, she currently focuses on creations that open up new paradigms for understanding climate change through projects like Ocean of Rivers. She is collaborating with Iraqi artist and geologist Nawrast Sabah on Tracings, which uses sound and video to investigate the interconnected traces of humans and nature on changing watersheds. She is co-artistic director of Fort Point Theatre Channel, where she has created sets for multiple productions. An interdisciplinary artist, she has worked with dancers, filmmakers, and designers, to produce performance works for outdoor and indoor spaces.

Hanaa Mohammed is a poet and academic critic who holds a Ph.D. in Arabic literature and a Sharjah Award for Arab Creativity in Literary Criticism 2017. She is a professor and trainer in creative writing, such as poetry, short stories, and novels. Hanna writes in the field of poetry, criticism, short story, and children’s literature and has participated in poetry festivals and critical conferences across Iraq, Tunisia, UAE, and Germany.

Letta Neely, originally from Indianapolis, Indiana, is a Black lesbian playwright, performer, poet, mother, teacher and activist who has been involved in liberation movements all her life. Her work focuses on connections and intersections.

Amy Merrill is a Boston (MA) playwright, producer, and author of many plays. While writing THE SQUARE, a play about a US veteran of the Iraq war, she met Anne Loyer with whom she co-founded Her Story Is. 

Funders:

The event is presented by the East Side Freedom Library and the Iraqi and American Reconciliation Project.

This engagement is supported by the Arts Midwest GIG Fund, a program of Arts Midwest that is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, with additional contributions from Minnesota State Arts Board. This event is made possible in part by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.

Seating is limited, registration is required.

Masks required.