Iraqi Women Artists Visiting Minneapolis for Discussion and Collaboration This Weekend

What are the women of Iraq feeling and thinking after the "end" of the US-led war, in the aftermath of its destruction and the tide of the Arab Spring?

(Baghdadi Mem/Wars by Dena Al-Adeeb, featured artist in the exhibit NOT ABOUT BOMBS, up at Intermedia Arts in Minneapolis)

The Iraqi and American Reconciliation Project (IARP) is asking them exactly that this weekend. IARP is pleased to announce plans to bring 3 Iraqi women artists--Dena Al-Adeeb, Sundus Abdul Hadi and Tamara Abdul Hadi--to Minneapolis for a series of public dialogues and collaboration, as part of the NOT ABOUT BOMBS exhibit currently up at Intermedia Arts:

• An Artist Talk and Reception at 7:00 pm on Friday, March 2, at Intermedia Arts. The community will be able to meet the artists; ask questions; and get honest, real, female, Iraqi perspectives from the artists. The event will be recorded and made available online.
   
• A session at the Nobel Peace Prize Forum at 10:45 am on March 3 with Minneapolis artists Susanne Slavick and Camille Gage, "Illustrating the Cost of War: Artists Respond to a Decade of Conflict."
   
• Video interviews with the artists on March 3, to be produced and later released by IARP.
   
• A brainstorming session on March 3 with each other and IARP curator Tricia Khutoretsky about collaboration.

At base, this project is about challenging assumptions about Iraqi and Arab women and hearing (and recording) perspectives on the Iraq War and Iraq that are too rarely heard.

We want to give the visiting Iraqi artists a warm reception--if you're free and in town on Friday night, stop by Intermedia Arts at 7 -- it's free! The event page on TC Daily Planet's calendar is here  and the Facebook event page is here.

We also need to raise  $4,000 by Thursday night at 9:59pm CST through our Kickstarter campaign to cover the artists' travel and event costs. If we don't reach our goal by Thursday night, we get NONE of the pledged funds. Please consider helping bring these artists to Minneapolis! The link is http://kck.st/yJ4Tib.