N+R_LA hosts an evening of discussion on:

MEDIA REPRESENTATION/WOMEN/AFGHANASTAN/PAKISTAN

with presentations by:

MEENA NANJI

SONALI KOLHATKAR

SHAHID NADEEM

Sunday, November 4, 7 PM

At: Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Hollywood

[6522 Hollywood Blvd. ENTER: via back entrance, through 'PCI parking lot' on

west side of Wilcox, south of Hollywood - street parking/lot parking]



::MEENA NANJI has been living in Los Angeles since 1981 and now divides her

time between Los Angeles and New Delhi. She has been working in independent

film and video for the last eight years, receiving her MFA in Film/Video

from California Institute of the Arts in 1993. Meena has produced and

directed several videos that have screened internationally at festivals,

universities, museums, galleries and on television. She is currently

directing two videos: Loose Threads, (working title), about 2nd generation

South Asian youth in Los Angeles, and Women and War, (working title), a

video documentary about Afghan women refugees living in Pakistan today.

::SONALI KOLHATKAR is an Applications Developer at the California Institute

of Technology and Vice President of the Afghan Women's Mission. The Afghan

Women's Mission is working in solidarity with Afghans to help improve

health and educational facilities for Afghan refugees in Pakistan. Sonali

has undergraduate degrees in Physics and Astronomy from the University of

Texas, and a Masters degree in Astrophysics from the University of Hawaii.

She has spoken out about women's rights and human rights in Afghanistan as

well as the responsibility of the US to the people of Afghanistan.

::SHAHID NADEEM, a playwright, TV Director, journalist, human rights

activist, has written more than 30 plays and eight television serials for

Pakistani television, many of which were also performed through-out Asia and

in Britain. He is the in-house playwright for Ajoka Theatre, Pakistan1s

leading non-commercial theatre group. As a human rights activist he has

worked for Amnesty International since 1980. He was imprisoned under all

three military governments in Pakistan because of his non-violent opposition

to military rule and his writings. He had to stay in exile from 1979-1988

and only returned when General Zia-ul-Haq died. He has been harassed by the

government since his return for writing about Pakistan1s human rights record

and for supporting Indian-Pakistani friendship. In 1998, he was fired after

his play, an adaptation of a Brecht play on Hitler, was regarded as an

attack on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, and for openly criticizing government

interference in Pakistani Television affairs. Shahid's most recent

television serial, GHAIRAT ('Honor'), broadcast July through September of

this year, portrays fictionalized accounts based on true stories of violence

against women in Pakistan.

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NOMADS+RESIDENTS_LA

While competing definitions of "the global" and "the local" are being

thrown about in a myriad current political and economic debates, Los

Angeles continues, like most major cities, to house a constantly

fluctuating mass of natives, migrants and visitors. Even with the much

heralded isolation of LA "car culture", these populations meet, exchange

information, and share knowledge. Recognizing this fluid process as a

resource, NOMADS+RESIDENTS_LA organizes public discussions between people

who live in Los Angeles and people who visit the city. Taking its form and

motivation from NOMADS + RESIDENTS in New York City, NOMADS+RESIDENTS_LA

creates a network among people interested in

contemporary/political/intellectual discussions in the context of cultural

production. NOMADS+RESIDENTS_LA is organized by a group of artists,

writers and curators. Event locations will circulate throughout the city.

N+R_LA are:

Joyce Campbell | Rita Gonzalez | Sharon Hayes | Anna Helwing | Maria

Karlsson | Tessa Laird | Annika Lundgren | Rachel Mayeri | Lize Mogel |

Tone O. Nielsen | Linda Pollack | Bea Schlingelhoff | Jeannie Simms | Tran,

T. Kim-Trang

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