Join us for the opening of Sarah Elizabeth Borst and Salima Al-Ismaili’s co-exhibition at the Power Plant Gallery at Duke University on the American Tobacco campus in Durham, North Carolina. This is a particularly special night because it is also the thesis kickoff celebration for the MFA in Experimental and Documentary Arts at Duke University class of 2017!

Timeline for Friday, March 3rd:
Reception: 5 – 7:30pm
Screening of Sarah’s feature film ‘Adult in Training’: 7:30pm
Q&A with Sarah and Salima to follow

Then be sure to join us afteward for drinks, hugs and conversation at Motorco in true MFA EDA style.

The show will run March 3rd – 14th
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‘Shadows of Devotion’ by Salima Al-Ismaili

Shadows of Devotion is a look into the blurred lines of women’s gender roles as leaders in Islam. The exhibit includes a documentary photography series “Nests of the Nu Ahong” that journeys into women-only mosques (nusi) in China’s Henan province. The images work to capture the prayer and community of the elderly women it serves along with their women leaders known as nu ahong.

The photographs are coupled with the installation piece (من وراء حجاب ) ‘from behind a veil’ and a video performance piece titled ‘prayers’. Both a personal exploration into women’s feminine spirituality, ’from behind a veil’ speaks to the barriers and layers that Muslim women overcome in order to transcend into spiritual autonomy, while ‘prayers’ explores how women internalize spiritual memory through the performance of prayer gestures across generations.

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‘This is Mine’ by Sarah Elizabeth Borst
Screening: ‘Adult in Training’ at 7:30pm

This is Mine is a four-part project confronting the sexualization of the female form and proliferation of the feminine ideal. Accessing the history of the individual or collective female experience is incredibly painful, and feminism cannot be oversimplified as an empowering mechanism that will deliver positive change without physical and emotional struggle.

This is Mine is my attempt at grappling with the struggle in change—my attempt to look at my experience through a feminist lens, and to produce work motivated by my feminist values. Part I: The Diaries, is a body of work curated from my personal archive of family photographs, love letters from boys, journal entries since middle school and interactions with social media.

The Diaries serves as a prerequisite to Part II: Adult in Training, where I have documented myself on camera for the last year and a half in moments of transition into the construct of adulthood. In Part III: The Monologue, I share my experiences of being raped and sexually harassed, as a call for women to share their own individual stories. In Part IV: Milk, I photograph women breastfeeding in their homes, challenging and problematizing the representation of the female body. Recognizing the work of women who come before me, and the human bodies they occupy, I present you with my own. This is mine.