Meet Rozina Shiraz Gilani of Atlanta’s Radical Art Community

Today we’d like to introduce you to Rozina Shiraz Gilani, an Atlanta-based visual and performing artist, choreographer and the Founder and Artistic Director of Atlanta’s Radical Art Community.

Her latest piece “The Wall’ is an Indian semi-classical narration of the Israeli occupation of Palestine and life under aparthied. This piece depicts experiences of exile and resistance in 4 chapters: Pastoral life before 1948, Al-Nakba (the catastrophe) and mass expulsion of Palestinians, the First and Second Intifadas (to shake off; uprising) of ’87 and 2000, and current forms of resistance. Gilani utilizes popular motifs, through physical, photographic and embodied representation, to share the story of collective trauma in the face of apartheid. Symbols to look out for in this piece are the muftah (key representing the right of return), keffiyeh (Palestinian scarf of resistance), Handala (Naji al-Ali’s political cartoon representing the refugee child with clasped hands), olive trees and of course….the slingshot. All archived photography, wall art, music, and poetry are made by cultural resistance artists living in Palestine and the diaspora.

Trained in several classical and contemporary dance forms, Gilani specializes in Bharat Natyam (1 of 8 Indian classical dances) and completed her Arangetram (professional debut) ceremony in 2004. Bharat Natyam is in its origins the ancient art of sacred dance-drama and is comprised of dramatic storytelling and pure dance movements reflecting different rhythms of the universe. The dancer uses expressive hand gestures, neck movements, and head movements as a way of communicating their narrative. Exclusive to Hindu temples through the 19th century, its masters told the stories of Gods and Goddesses.

After completing her Arangetram, Gilani began to employ her creative license by experimenting with new ways to narrate. She was drawn to the storytelling of the tangible world, of the human condition and righteous fights to live with freedom and dignity. With this vision, she began creating multi-media visual and movement compositions that sought to challenge and activiate her audiences.

“As I started to invest more in community and social justice issues, I realized that my art had the capacity to serve as a sort of movement testimony. I focused more on the stories that I felt could touch people and move them towards action.”

Her approach to choreography first became intertwined with her work as a social justice activist and community organizer during her first visit to Palestine in 2008. There, she taught and choreographed Indian classical dance sequences and worked alongside local organizers. Being exposed to the rich tradition of protest art in Palestine, and in building community with local political artists as well in the diaspora, she committed herself to the liberatory arts as dancer, choreographer, and curator.

Over the past 14 years, she has worked on solo and collaborative dance projects, productions & workshops internationally– in the U.S., Hungary, Palestine, and Lebanon. After returning to Atlanta in 2016, Gilani was in search for a revolutionary art space, and subsequently founded Atlanta’s Radical Art Community in 2018.

Gilani’s work as a performing artist has gone hand in hand with her research focusing on representations of identity, collective memory, and post-trauma in the Palestinian performing arts. Between 2008 and 2011, she conducted several workshops in Palestine, and later between 2012-2014 in Beirut, Lebanon where she used movement storytelling to explore the practice of creating personal and historical testimony. Moving beyond pure aesthetic, Gilani’s work and instruction are informed by the uplifting of story and storyteller in the process of salvage ethnography, a political and justice-centered approach to fighting erasure and the censorship of resistance art.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Atlanta’s Radical Art Community – what should we know?
The Atlanta Radical Art Community is a collective of local Atlanta artists committed to the creation of a radical and artistic counterculture in response to the social and political climate of our time. Our Artists engage in performances/experiments that shed light on topics of intersectional struggle, liberation, and protest from around the globe. Our vision is to create spaces and works that thrive independent of institutional funding, finding its strength in community support. This community is primarily for people of color, non-men, queer & trans artists across multiple disciplines as well as allies who are working jointly with us towards similar goals and prioritize the visibility of said communities in Atlanta’s art scene.

Our first (and soon to be touring) production, RESIST: A SIMULATION OF STRUGGLE, is an experiment in liberation art. Our artists reclaim space and create a 60-minute simulation inspired by the documented experiences of Palestinians living under Israeli Apartheid. Comprised of visual and performance projects and an interactive installation of the Israeli aparthied wall, the myriad of struggles represented in this project go to illustrate the intersection of our struggles and consequentially, the need for mutual solidarity in our fight for justice and reconciliation. This project and its ambassadors push back against Racism, Sexism, Colonialism/Empire, Fascism, Transphobia, Homophobia, Islamophobia, Ableism, and Xenophobia.

We have now begun commemorating the upcoming 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall Riots and have created programming to bring attention to and pay tribute to the genesis of Pride and the forgotten freedom fighters that paved the way for queer liberation globally. Through this commemoration, we intend to bring awareness to the righteous rage felt by queer/trans people– specifically QTPOC– at the riots of The Stonewall Inn, throughout history and in the testimony of past and present lived experiences. Local representation from these communities as well as their allies will help us tell the narrative of this struggle and evoke intersectional conversations around Racism, Homophobia, Transphobia & systems of oppression such as Rainbow Capitalism, Pinkwashing & Police brutality.

We recently began hosting monthly mixers on every first Thursday of the month to grow our community, share organizing and artistic projects with each other, uplift cause that our artivists feel passionately about and of course, to take first steps in creating collaborative and empowering productions together.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
As a new organization, we are still learning the ropes! Our current efforts, while working on our next production, are focused on growing our community, gaining visibility in the city and providing thought-provoking programming. As a group that is independent of institutional support and funding, we hope to become a radical space that is sustained by the community, for the community.

Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role? 
We have a beautiful and powerful group of protest artists in our community. Our first production featured  Mila Konomos, Maryam Z Ahmad, Matheus Blasczak, John Arthur Brown, Mohammed El-Kurd, River, Deborah Conton, Shalom Little, Aaron Davis & Dawn Oneal. Each of these story tellers uplifted the voices of historically marginalized communities that they come from or have intimate ties with.

We also have great support from our allies and local organizations, such as WRFG 89.3FM, Jewish Voice for Peace, Joining Hands for Justice, The Collective Ink & Arts Society & Moon Ray Creative.

Contact Info:

• Website: atlradicalart.com 
• Phone: 470.331.3575
• Email: [email protected]

Image Credit:
Matheus Blaszak (Artriot), Fiorella Otero, Virginia Kendall Reese, Jarid Barringer, Clara Perez

Getting in touch: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.