A Virtual Conversation with Pato Hebert and aAliy A. Muhammad
Learn from Pato Hebert and aAliy A. Muhammad about their work as artists and organizers in health and disability justice movements. Building on the themes shared in the Everyone I Know Is Sick film series, especially the program’s invitation “to understand disability as a common experience rather than an exception to the norm,” this conversation provides an opportunity to center disability justice and the crucial role artists play in justice movements, community building, and organizing. For more information about Hebert’s and Muhammad’s work we encourage you to read their conversation Art is at the Heart of Disability Justice published in June 2023. This program will be moderated by Sarah Watson, director of the Murphy Institute at CUNY SLU.
This event is funded by the CUNY LGBTQIA+ Consortium, and presented in connection with Visual AIDS and the Day With(out) Art 2023: Everyone I Know Is Sick. We encourage everyone to view Everyone I Know is Sick videos in advance of this December 13 virtual program — all videos are now available to view online free.
Speakers
aAliy A. Muhammad (they/them) is a Philadelphia born/raised queer Black muslim writer. In their work they often problematize medical surveillance, discuss the importance of bodily autonomy and center Blackness. aAliy (pronounced AH-LEE) is the creator of Black Reverence Chair, a joy and affirmation ritual. They are a co-convener of Finding Ceremony, a descendant community- controlled process, restoring the lineages of care, reverence, and spiritual memory to the work of caring for our dead.
Pato Hebert (he/him) is an artist, teacher and organizer. He has worked in HIV prevention initiatives with queer communities of color since 1994. He curated exhibitions and led creative initiatives at the International AIDS Conferences in Vienna (2010), Melbourne (2014), Durban (2016) and Amsterdam (2018). He is a COVID-19 long hauler, living with the impacts of the coronavirus and publicly addressing the pandemic since March of 2020. His Lingering solo exhibition about long COVID debuted at Pitzer College in 2022. He serves as Chair and an Associate Professor of Art in the Department of Art & Public Policy at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.