Panos Aprahamian, Gohar Dashti and Hala Auji / Tending to Memory: Art, Migration, and the Politics of Labor

This talk advocates for a broader approach to Islamic art collections, moving beyond the traditional concerns of authenticity, provenance, and preservation. It emphasizes the need to recognize and engage with understudied production and devotional practices. By examining unconventional contemporary Qur’an manuscripts from South and Southeast Asia housed in West Asian collections, I will explore how scholars and curators can challenge conve

This roundtable brings together artists Panos Aprahamian and Gohar Dashti, in conversation with Hala Auji, to consider how their work engages with issues of labor, migration, and identity in the context of care, the environment, and neoliberal society. Through a discussion of these artists’ works the roundtable will examine how care manifests in community-building, the politics of labor, belonging, and the personal and collective memories that shape these experiences.

Series convened by Olivier Krischer and Peyvand Firouzeh, and co-presented by the Power Institute and VisAsia at the Art Gallery of NSW.