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UID:20260423T202933UTC-0620F6tGrW@https://mapm.org/
DTSTAMP:20260423T202933Z
DESCRIPTION:Join us for an afternoon of music and poetry at the Rochester A
 rt Center with Iraqi American writer Dunya Mikhail\, Maestro Karim Wasfi\,
  and veteran and artist Aaron Hughes. In this live performance\, poetry by
  Hughes and Mikhail will be interwoven with Maestro Wasfi's improvisations
  on the cello. Following the performance\, audience members are invited to
  visit the Poetry Despite/Music Despite exhibition in the gallery. A porti
 on of the event proceeds will support Iraqi poets and musicians. Reserve t
 ickets at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/poetry-despitemusic-despite-poetry-
 cello-performance-tickets-290827923147. ABOUT THE EXHIBIT:\nCo-presented b
 y the Iraqi and American Reconciliation Project and the Rochester Art Cent
 er\, Poetry Despite/Music Despite (Eternal War Requiem) connects artists a
 cross time and place\, from World War I to the “Global War on Terror\,” fr
 om the US to Iraq. In this exhibition\, conceived and organized by Iraq wa
 r veteran and artist Aaron Hughes\, music\, poetry\, and visual art come t
 ogether to facilitate connections between the current state of endless war
  and its historical antecedents. These connections acknowledge the recurri
 ng traumas of war and\, conversely\, the human connections that happen des
 pite the pain.\nABOUT THE ARTISTS:\nMaestro Karim Wasfi is a renowned cell
 ist\, conductor\, and founder of Peace Through Arts Foundation known for h
 is “spontaneous compositions\,” solo cello performances held at sites of r
 ecent bombings in Iraq. Wasfi conducted the Iraqi National Symphony Orches
 tra 2007-2016 and established the Italy Iraq Scholarship program in Modena
  as well as the British Council office in 2005. Wasfi utilizes sound reson
 ance on the brain\, neuroscience function\, cultural diplomacy\, a unique 
 music and sound approach for healing\, cross cultural integration\, deradi
 calization\, and prevention of tension. His innovative approach helped tho
 usands of people in crisis areas to rise from violence\, fear\, and intimi
 dation of terror\, by conveying creative peaceful resonance through music\
 , sound and arts. Wasfi’s current effort is to rebuild Iraq’s war torn are
 as by focusing on healing and rebuilding inner and societal peace that aim
 s to proactively prevent future relapse into war and conflict.\nDunya Mikh
 ail is an Iraqi American poet and writer. She has received fellowships fro
 m the United States Artists\, the Guggenheim\, and Kresge. Her honors also
  include the Arab American Book Award\, and UN Human Rights Award for Free
 dom of Writing. Her book The War Works Hard was shortlisted for Internatio
 nal Griffin Poetry Prize. New Directions published three of her other poet
 ry books and her non-fiction The Beekeeper which was a finalist for the Na
 tional Book Award and for PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award. Her debut nove
 l The Bird Tattoo\, shortlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fic
 tion\, is coming out on December 6\, 2022 from Pegasus. She currently work
 s as a special lecturer of Arabic at Oakland University in Michigan.\nAaro
 n Hughes is an artist\, curator\, organizer\, teacher\, anti-war activist\
 , and Iraq War veteran. Working through an interdisciplinary practice root
 ed in drawing and printmaking\, Hughes works collaboratively to create mea
 ning out of personal and collective trauma\, transform systems of oppressi
 on\, and seek liberation. He develops projects that often utilize popular 
 research strategies\, experiments with forms of direct democracy\, and ope
 rates in solidarity with the people most impacted by structural violence. 
 Hughes works with a range of art and activist groups\, including Justseeds
  Artists’ Cooperative\, About Face: Veterans Against the War\, emerging Ve
 teran Art Movement\, and Prison + Neighborhood Arts/Education Project. htt
 ps://mapm.org/events/calendar/event/424-poetry-cello-performance-with-maes
 tro-karim-wasfi-dunya-mikhail-and-aaron-hughes
DTSTART:20220515T130000Z
DTEND:20220515T140000Z
LOCATION:Rochester Art Center (30 Civic Center Drive SE\, STE 120 Rochester
 \, MN 55904)
SUMMARY:Poetry & Cello Performance with Maestro Karim Wasfi\, Dunya Mikhail
 \, and Aaron Hughes
URL:https://mapm.org/events/calendar/event/424-poetry-cello-performance-wit
 h-maestro-karim-wasfi-dunya-mikhail-and-aaron-hughes
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