#hajra waheed

[optikes]

Hajira Waheed (b 1980) Canada

Kwabgah (House of Dreams) (2024) painting on tin

collection: Kiran Nadar Museum of Art

[filmingtheodyssey]

hajra waheed, biennale

[moma-prints]

Anouchian Passport Portrait Series (Men in Uniforms), Hajra Waheed, 2010, MoMA: Drawings and Prints

Purchased with funds provided by Donald B. Marron in honor of Maja Oeri Size: 12 1/2 x 9 1/2" (31.8 x 24.1 cm) Medium: Pencil and Xylene transfer on nine sheets of paper

http://www.moma.org/collection/works/151507

[juneyuenting]

trailer: abolitionist kinaesthetics

(original film 18 mins) a process film made with fragments of practice footages, phone conversations and wondering-out-louds, contemplating on the meanings of building relationships, resisting time and practising care under capitalism - from the project "abolitionist kinaesthetics: movement works in end times" (2021) in collaboration with jeremy guyton & shao shin frieda luk

music credit: hajra waheed

[abolitionist-kinaesthetics]

excerpts from hajra waheed & reece cox, “abolitionist modes of listening,” in the contemporary journal 3 (december 21, 2020)

“Humming as a medium inhabits a certain sense of sonic agency, falling precisely between two basic rights and laws that govern our speech and expression in society: 1) the freedom of speech, which can protect our agency and the ability for us to say what we want, but not necessarily protect the expression of the voice itself. And 2) the right to silence which can offer a mode of withdrawal from engaging in public speech but can also work against us in muting our political agency.”

“I was interested in finding ways to possibly circumvent this oppression, to find loopholes of sorts. I think humming lives somewhere in between. All of these songs of resistance after all are speaking to similar stories of struggle that had been happening both in a period of decolonisation in the 1960s through 1980s and which continue today. All of these songs are speaking to struggles against state oppression, the rise of authoritarianism, the plight and hope of working people, the dispossessed and the marginalised. I suppose this is how humming came to be the medium I chose for the work. It’s often overlooked as a medium, as a meditation, as a phenomenon, and language. It’s an utterance we’re all capable of making when our lips have been sealed shut. It’s incredibly legible, yet insidious, it’s irrefutable and infectious. We do it when we want to first memorise a song, we do it when we want to later remember it. We do it both consciously and subconsciously. It’s an utterance that actively lives in the cracks and between spaces – and this is what I was most interested in, more importantly, where I wanted the work to live.”

“The work was shown in Lahore Fort’s historic Diwaan-i-Aam, which was built by Shah Jahan in 1628 and styled after Isfahan’s Chehel Sotoun, a 40-pillar audience hall. In November 2019, I was able to enter Pakistan and travel to Lahore for a site visit. Diwan-i-Aam was initially conceived as a space for the public to air their grievances.”

“When it was first built during the Mughal period, it is said that its floors were covered in carpets and cloaked in silks to keep it cool in the summer months. It had been repurposed several times due to the changing guard of empires throughout history. During Sikh rule, for example, much of it was burned down due to internal conflict. During British colonial rule, it was rebuilt with a new set of archways and rods inserted across them to hang curtains, transforming it into an open-air hospital. The site also lay witness to the 1947 Partition when it became a refugee camp for thousands upon thousands of Muslims fleeing India to Pakistan. Now, under Pakistan’s heavy militarisation it’s an entirely inert, silent space. What struck me immediately and stayed with me long after, was just how far away this monument stood from its original role and conception.”

------

an excerpt from the programme note for waheed’s 2020 solo exhibition at portikus, in frankfurt, germany

“Hum (2020) is a large scale multi-channel musical composition and sound installation that employs the ubiquitous yet overlooked medium of humming as a means to explore radical forms of collective and sonic agency. The work’s title, which translates to “We” in Urdu, reflects on international solidarity movements that emerged in the second half of the 20th century during processes of decolonization in the Global South. Driven by the need to critically engage these histories and reflect on their implications for our time, the composition features eight hummed songs of resistance from South, Central, West Asia and Africa. Shared across each of these hummed verses are stories of struggle against state oppression, the rise of authoritarianism and the plight and hope of working people, the marginalized and dispossessed. All of these songs are being resurrected in social movements today.”

image: diwan-i-aam at lahore fort by mor charpentier 

[image description: a picture taken at diwan-i-aam at the lahore fort in pakistan on an overcast day, perhaps during early morning or early evening. several pillars--of a red clay colour--can be seen and some cream-coloured archways they form can be seen. hung in the air are what seem to be several cylinder-shaped speakers. behind the pillars in the background are some trees and fences. the aftermath of what seems to be a dust storm is visible in the picture and gives it a general grainy quality.]

[maralmarr]

Hajra Waheed, Hum, 2020. Edition 1/12, Etching on Paper, 9 x 12 in. Courtesy of the Artist.

[lynndoan]

Hajra Waheed - Hold Everything Dear

[angelo-aldo-filippin]

2017 Venezia, 57. Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte - performer Hajra Waheed da angelo aldo filippin Tramite Flickr: 57. Biennale d'Arte di Venezia 2017 Hajra Waheed è nata nel 1980 a Calgary in Canada. Nei quartieri sottoposti a sorveglianza della compagnia nazionale Saudita di idrocarburi dove Hajra è cresciuta, le fotografie e le riprese a uso personale non erano autorizzate. Questo contesto restrittivo e vincolante può spiegare l'attrazione dell'artista per la geopolitica , la ricerca della verità, le questioni della sorveglianza e dell'archiviazione di documenti. H.Waheed colleziona numerosi oggetti, come cartoline e fotografie. Li riutilizza in seguito nelle sue installazioni o se ne ispira liberamente.

[eunice-bee]

Hajra Waheed, “Hold Everything Dear” at @thepowerplantto 💕💕 #tobiennial19 https://www.instagram.com/p/B2w3T-eAMRikjEoItzLgqljsen0wKqtMQoCZo40/?igshid=1n22m8udtyq33

[aislingkeaveyart]

Hajra Waheed - A Short Film (at Biennale d'Arte Contemporanea - Giardini)

[kathrynnmae]

The Scrapbook Project by Hajra Waheed

http://hajrawaheed.com/works/the-scrapbook-project/

https://canadianart.ca/features/hajra-waheed-venice/

I saw Waheed’s work in the Central Pavilion at the ‘Viva Arte Viva’ Venice Biennale. I was instantly attracted to the work by the materials used, the glass slides and collaged photographs captured landscapes and what seemed to be a journey. After researching more into Waheed’s work i discovered one of her previous works ‘The Scrapbook Project’ With the link to my current practice. It is a collection of stick drawings, expired Polaroid film and photo collages displaying a personal history of the the artist. The piece (Page 29 & 34) above captures a collage including a Polaroid photograph, this type of photography has always intrigued me, once a photo is taken it becomes a thing of the past and for that image to develop in front of your eyes suggests a growing memory, a symbol of the present becoming the past and this is what id like to take from this artist. A photo collage displays clipping bits from memories to combine a new, more  poignant one, maybe by carefully selecting pieces from memorable objects and places Waheed’s collages define specific moments from her life.

[theitalianconnection]

Hajra Waheed - Our Naufrage 1-10

[rebekahbeasleylevelfive-blog]

Moving on ...

After hitting a dead end on the Stezaker interpretations I began looking back at our trip to Venice. This is when I came across Hajra Waheed’s slide exhibit at the Giardini.

I decided I wanted to play around with the idea of creating small images/ landscapes using train tickets and receipts that I had been collecting over the term but again I feel as though I have stagnated on making just the one thing over and over again.

From this frustration, I began looking at Sarah Hardacres collages and thought I could go onto to creating a kind of fake memory for peoples lives.  Slides like the ones I have been using remind me of times when slideshows after holidays with your family was still the norm but nowadays its all on your iPad or your phone... we have no use for physical copies of things anymore which is what I am trying to get across for the Gallery Project.

[moma-prints]

Anouchian Passport Portrait Series (Women with Head Scarves), Hajra Waheed, 2010, MoMA: Drawings and Prints

Purchased with funds provided by Donald B. Marron in honor of Maja Oeri Size: 12 1/2 x 9 1/2" (31.8 x 24.1 cm) Medium: Pencil and Xylene transfer on nine sheets of paper

http://www.moma.org/collection/works/151505

[mandellivalentina-blog]

Hajra Waheed 

Biennale di Venezia 2017 

[veniceollie]

Giardini - Hajra Waheed