Queer Diasporic Visual Art: Islamicate Contexts

Video (1:18.22): zoom webinar conversation with queer artists Laurence Rasti, Alireza Shojaian, and Sarp Kerem Yavuz, moderated by Andrew Gayed and introduced by Gayatri Gopinath took place on March 10, 2021. – This panel explores questions of queerness and diaspora through the lens of visual art. Organized by the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality (CSGS) at New York University. It was co-sponsored by the Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU, & by the Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies at NYU.

About Queer Feminist Artist Laurence Rasti

Laurence Rasti was born in 1990 to Iranian parents in Switzerland. She obtained a Bachelor in Photography from the University of Art and Design Lausanne, and an MFA from the Geneva University of Art and Design. Relying on her dual cultural background, Rasti looks at Swiss and Iranian cultural codes and conventions from a new angle in order to understand the influence of gender roles in society, and also the consequences of migration or the non-respect of fundamental rights. In 2017 she published the book There Are No Homosexuals in Iran with the Edition Patrick Frey and got shortlisted at the Paris Photo Aperture First Photobook Award, the Author Book Award of the Rencontres d’Arles and nominated as one of the 10 best photobooks of 2017 by the New York Times Magazine. Her work has been exhibited in various groups and solo exhibitions around the world.

For the biographies of the gay male panelists, see the description of the video on Youtube.

[The copyright of the video above remains with the original holder and it is used here for the purpose of education, comparison and criticism only.]