Highlights from our Summer Art Fest event
Written by Lumi Zogaj. Photos by Constanza Prieto.
For Thahitun Mariam, immigration means learning to exist in multiple places. Originally from Bangladesh, she feels at home both there and in her adopted home of New York City. As for Kweighbaye Kotee, who fled the Liberian civil war with her family and now lives in Brooklyn, she still has “an inner yearning to connect to home in Liberia.”
Both women were speaking at a roundtable discussion held during Summer Art Fest, an event hosted by New Women New Yorkers on June 7 at the Centre for Social Innovation. The panel of four immigrant women touched on everything from art, feminism, and the meaning of home, to being an immigrant in the current political climate. Held to honor and celebrate Immigrant Heritage Month, Immigrant Women Summer Art Fest also offered a chance to experience the exhibit Real People. Real Lives, a unique collaboration of New Women New Yorkers with Australian-American artist Dru Blumensheid. The exhibit curated for Summer Art Fest featured art and fashion photographs of 16 immigrant women, an immersive audio room to listen to interviews of the women, and a nearly 2-hour film with additional photographs.
To kick off the roundtable discussion, moderator Azadi Siemens, a NWNY board member and three times an immigrant herself, asked two of the panelists who participated in Real People. Real Lives. to share what drew them to the project. Ximena Vélez, originally from Colombia, said she wanted to allow others to “travel through our faces and voices.” Montserrat Vargas, originally from Chile, said she wanted to help break down stereotypes about immigrant women, and show that immigrants come to the US for different reasons.
The discussion continued on the topic of feminism. Kweighbayee Kotee, as founder of the Bushwick Film Festival and organizer of TedX Bushwick Women, strived to create platforms and spaces to promote women’s voices and stories.
“Feminism is allowing every woman to decide how to be a woman,” whether that means having children or foregoing motherhood in favor of pursuing a career, she said. Kweighbayee also raised the issue of pay parity: women need to know their worth is equal to men’s, she said, and make sure their sisters are rising through the ranks in all industries. It is also imperative to realize that different women have different struggles, Kweighbaye continued; black, white, Latina, and Asian women, for example, have different levels of struggle, and we must not pretend that those levels do not exist.
To close the discussion, panelists were asked to reflect on what it means to be an immigrant and a woman in the current political landscape. Thahitun highlighted that although she has witnessed increased fear and a sense of unease in the immigrant community, more people are becoming politically engaged; more women are taking an interest in politics and running for office, creating a sense of empowerment in spite of anti-immigrant rhetoric.
To see more photos of Summer Art Fest event, check our Facebook album.
Thank you to our sponsors Dizengoff NYC, My/Mo Mochi, Tanabel, Txikito, and Van Brunt Stillhouse for their generous support!
