art

Our federal civil rights lawsuit against the City of Troy for shutting down Iraqi American artist Wafaa Bilal's anti-war video installation at the Sanctuary in 2008 comes to a close with the recent announcement of a grant award from the National Endowment for the Arts, to be matched dollar for dollar by $50,000 from the city as agreed in our settlement of the case.  

If you're unfamiliar with the history, the Hudson Mohawk Independent Media Center produced a great short documentary about what happened.

On July 11, 2012 the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announced 80 Our Town grant awards totaling $4.995 million reaching 44 states and the District of Columbia.  Media Alliance (which operates The Sanctuary for Independent Media) is one of the grantees and will receive $50,000 for a project called “Found Art in North Troy.”  The grant will be matched with $50,000 provided by the City of Troy.

Sanctuary TV producer Yaminay Nasir Chaudhri is reporting regularly from Pakistan, where she is staying with family while developing a new documentary project.  This, the first of her visual narratives of life as a migrant in cities she calls home, focuses on a worrisome phone call she received days before embarking on her journey...

"An incident that brought the unstable political situation in Pakistan uncomfortably close to home occurred on September 19 when a car bomb exploded a mere kilometer from my family's home in Karachi, Pakistan.

We're excited and honored that the Capital Region's altweekly, Metroland, chose to feature our current gallery show, a 30-year retrospective of political comics and graphic art by the NYC-based World War 3 Illustrated collective, on its cover this week!

You can read the full story at http://metroland.net/features.html, but the online version sacrifices much of the presentation. So I recommend you find a hard copy! We have a number here at The Sanctuary — or you can just click on the images below to download full-size scans.

Remember, if you haven't seen the show yet, it's up for almost another full month. Our gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., plus two hours before any event. As always feel free to contact us for more information.

This past weekend we had two members of the incredible World War 3 Illustrated collective here to hang their show in underground gallery, our upstairs gallery, the cafe, the main Sanctuary space, the stairs ...

There was so much art to behold, and to be organized, laid out, measured, hung, and given a proper sign, that it took several volunteers, artists, and significant others two full days and more wallspace than our galleries contained to get it all up.

We passed around a point-and-shoot digital camera, snapping around 100 photos during the installation; I've included a selection of them below as a Picasa slideshow. (Click READ MORE to see the slideshow, or you can go directly to our album at Picasa to leave comments or download copies.)

Another option: If you prefer your internet with one less step of corporate mediation, you can view the gallery through our own kinda clunky interface here.

By Danielle Furfaro

The three Iraqi teenage girls show up at the library wearing red and black. The red, they explain, symbolizes the blood of dead Iraqis. The black represents the tears and sadness of their country.

Shahad Jassim, 18, Wead Jassim, 16, and Tethkar Ahmad, 15, are refugees.

They fled their war-torn country with their families within the past two years. They fled the scourge of dead bodies in the streets and bombed-out buildings. They fled what they felt would be their own certain deaths.

Now living in Albany, they aim to use art to educate the world about atrocities happening in Iraq and to express their hopes for peace. When they speak about their homeland, they can't help but cry. Their art gives them a voice, and it seems to help. At least a little.

Iraqi Children make art from war

By DANIELLE FURFARO

Times Union, Style Section, 3/19/09

http://timesunion.com/AspStories/storyprint.asp?StoryID=781892

The three Iraqi teenage girls show up at the library wearing red and black. The red, they explain, symbolizes the blood of dead Iraqis. The black represents the tears and sadness of their country.

Shahad Jassim, 18, Wead Jassim, 16, and Tethkar Ahmad, 15, are refugees. They fled their war-torn country with their families within the past two years. They fled the scourge of dead bodies in the streets and bombed-out buildings. They fled what they felt would be their own certain deaths.

Now living in Albany, they aim to use art to educate the world about atrocities happening in Iraq and to express their hopes for peace. When they speak about their homeland, they can't help but cry. Their art gives them a voice, and it seems to help. At least a little.

The girls are participating in the Iraqi Children's Art Exchange, an international program based in Northampton, Mass. A collection of murals, created one day last fall by refugee children ranging from preschoolers to teens, will be on exhibit at the Albany Public Library through March 27. A reception for the young artists will be 5 p.m. Monday.

Iraqi Children make art from war By DANIELLE FURFARO

http://timesunion.com/AspStories/storyprint.asp?StoryID=781892

The three Iraqi teenage girls show up at the library wearing red and black. The red, they explain, symbolizes the blood of dead Iraqis. The black represents the tears and sadness of their country.

Shahad Jassim, 18, Wead Jassim, 16, and Tethkar Ahmad, 15, are refugees. They fled their war-torn country with their families within the past two years. They fled the scourge of dead bodies in the streets and bombed-out buildings. They fled what they felt would be their own certain deaths.

Now living in Albany, they aim to use art to educate the world about atrocities happening in Iraq and to express their hopes for peace. When they speak about their homeland, they can't help but cry. Their art gives them a voice, and it seems to help. At least a little.

The girls are participating in the Iraqi Children's Art Exchange, an international program based in Northampton, Mass. A collection of murals, created one day last fall by refugee children ranging from preschoolers to teens, will be on exhibit at the Albany Public Library through March 27. A reception for the young artists will be 5 p.m. Monday.

“How Will They Know Us? Building a Culture of Peace”

Friday, March 27 and Saturday, March 28

Iraqi and American youth shared visions of a peaceful, just coexistence in this mural workshop. Guided by Claudia Lefko, director of the Iraqi Children’s Art Exchange, these murals will be exhibited in Egypt next year for the “UNESCO Decade of Peace and Non-violence Among Children of the World.”

Photo by Tyler Boudreau

“A Conversation About UPSTATE GIRLS”

Thursday, April 2

Teenage girls from throughout the Capital Region shared stories about the challenges in their lives, gathering with representatives of the institutions with which they are entwined—including the legal, educational, healthcare and penal systems—in response to award-winning photojournalist Brenda Ann Kenneally’s compelling work.

Funded in part by Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.