hiba ali
in the weeds
1224 W Loyola Ave, Chicago IL
October 15, 2021 - October 17, 2021

in the weeds is about “mowing the lawn,” war and migration. “mowing the lawn” is an activity that is mandated by Home Owner’s Associations to keep outdoor spaces clean, tidy, and presentable – and it is also a military tactic that murders people, particularly used in Palestine. Linked through the control and manicuring of grass, both of these facets are explored as they are found in settler societies.



in the weeds is being shared at Roman Susan in alignment with The Available City as a partner program of the Chicago Architecture Biennial.

hiba ali is a producer of moving images, sounds, garments and words. they reside in many time zones: chicago, toronto and eugene. born in karachi, pakistan, they belong to east african, south asian and arab diasporas. they are a practitioner and (re)learner of swahili, urdu, arabic and spanish languages. they work on two long term art and publication projects: an art-based phd project that examines womyn of colour’s labour, and architecture of surveillance as it exists within the monopoly of Amazon (corp.) and the black indian ocean project which features the music, cloth and ritual of african descent communities across the indian ocean region through music, cloth and ritual.

they are an assistant professor of new media artist/geminist discourse at the college of design in the art & technology program at the university of oregon, eugene, or. Currently, they are a phd candidate in cultural studies at queens university in kingston, ontario. Their work has been presented in chicago, stockholm, vienna, berlin, toronto, new york, istanbul, são paulo, detroit, windsor, dubai, austin, vancouver, and portland. they have written for the following magazines: “C”, the seen, newcity chicago, art chicago, art dubai, the state, medium’s zora, rtv, and topical cream. For more info, please visit hibaali.info.



references:

  • its has always been the americas and turtle island, the current name highlights empire.