On Monstrosity and Re-figuration: a lecture and performance by Morehshin Allahyari

Tehran-born, Brooklyn-based artist Morehshin Allahyari join us in DC for a lecture and performance in conjunction with the exhibition, She Who Sees The Unknown: Aisha Qandisha—a projected digital animation curated by Jonathan Monaghan. Allahyari will talk about her long-term research-based project, She Who Sees The Unknown, and concepts such as monstrosity, re-figuring, colonialism, and Jinn channeling; using the ancient stories of monstrous female and queer Middle-Eastern figures as her point of departure.

She will end the lecture with a participatory performance in which the audience will guide her in revealing a personal story on female desire, hysteria, and sexual harassment.

Image: Morehshin Allahyari, She Who Sees The Unknown: The Laughing Snake, still image from Net Art piece, co-commissioned by Liverpool Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art and FACT, 2018