RSVP here: https://www.queer-art.org/rsvp-to-pakeezah.
Streaming links here: https://www.queer-art.org/streaming-links-for-qaf-summer-2020.
PAKEEZAH
1972. 154 minutes. Directed by Kamal Amrohi.
“This 1972 Bollywood musical love story set in turn-of-the-century India stars Meena Kumari as an Indo-Islamic tawai’if (courtesan) who is trained in the art of love but forbidden to fall into it. Director Kamal Amrohi relies on the suffocating, deeply entrenched battle between traditional values and the fear of difference (in this case, an independent woman) suggesting that safety and respectability is only found in the arms of a husband. The legend around the making of this film and the tortured romance between director and star adds to the salacious delight of PAKEEZAH, which translates into “the pure one”. As a native-born Muslim American artist, guest presenter Baseera Khan will explain how this film “became her coat of arms and system of protection,” while growing up in Texas.”
Baseera Khan on PAKEEZAH
I see myself as a “native born Muslim American”, knowing not what it is like to grow up in an environment specific to that identity, yet determined to visualize that space. At an early age I was exposed to theological storytelling of Islam and how it came to be a religion. The stories were sculptural and performed a minimalist philosophy and aesthetic that is evident in my current practice. Against the backdrop of my environment I was also initiated into the world of old Bollywood Muslim Social films that predate American modernization of cultures in India by the early 70’s. I grew up rehearsing its dance choreography, wearing close replications of its garments, and reciting the scores of its music. One film in particular, PAKEEZAH, became my coat of arms and system of protection. The last of its kind, Pakeezah took 16 years to complete, based on ideas of “purity” and woman’s identity. The main actress herself, alienated by choices to be seen, died at an early age of 40. This timeframe shows me how American capitalism erased my sense of belonging to India. Also it shows me how I am illegible in America itself. American capitalism wiped the rich histories of these Muslim Social films, such as Pakeezah, from its native film industries. India today prescribes Islamophobic laws and policies toward the colorism and religions of these geographic regions, it is deeply dedicated to othering its people. The American government has created close alliships with their current administration. My unique exposures and historical understanding has manifested into a crucial archival and performance practice where I normalize my body by being seen, or unseen, on purpose.
I bare a weight in my practice of generations of historical trauma, its undocumented presence. I stand upon innumerable lost bodies and histories of Muslim women to make my work. And this film mirrors this heaviness.
Baseera Khan is a New York-based artist who sublimates colonial histories through performance and sculpture in order to map geographies of the future. Khan opened their first solo exhibition at Simone Subal, New York and a two-person show at Jenkins Johnson Projects (2019). They have exhibited in numerous locations such as Sculpture Center (2018), Aspen Museum (2017), Participant Inc. (2017), Moudy Gallery at Texas Christian University (2017), Fine Arts Center of Colorado College (2018), and has performed at several locations including the Whitney Museum of American Art and Art POP Montreal International Music Festival (2017). Khan was an artist in residence at Pioneer Works (2018-19) and Abrons Art Center (2016-17), was an International Travel Fellow to Jerusalem/Ramallah through Apexart (2015), and attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture (2014). Khan was a recipient of the BRIC Colene Brown Art Prize and the Joan Mitchell Painters and Sculptors Grant in 2019, they were granted by both NYSCA/NYFA and Art Matters in 2018. Her work was recently acquired by the Solomon R. Guggenheim permanent collections and Kadist, San Francisco. She is published in Artforum, Art in America, BOMB, OSMOS Magazine, unbag, Brooklyn Rail, The New Yorker, The New York Times, and TDR Drama Review. She received an M.F.A. from Cornell University (2012) and a B.F.A. from the University of North Texas (2005).