Sarah Sao Mai Habib

Sarah Sao Mai Habib engage’s the interaction between place, space, body, and the constructed borders within & between them. Her creative practice is an act of remembrance & honoring the resilience that allows her to be & to cultivate balance. This investigation & larger calling originate from a deeply personal place. Her work embodies a particular weaving of Vietnamese & Iraqi heritage within Turtle Island. She comes from a long lineage of bridging, of: diaspora, refugees, healers, mystics, & keepers of wisdom who hold the tension of indigenous & colonized ways. Most recently, her practice includes writing, reciting, self publishing, research, curation, somatic contemplative work, ritual and ceremony. Less recently, her practice includes photography, illustration, print, performance, speculative/conceptual & built architecture.

Residency/Fellowship

Truth & Reconciliation 2018/2019

Website

sarahsaomaihabib.com

Location

Santa Barbara, CA USA

STRUGGLES & HOPES / ALUMNI STATEMENT

“Trauma decontextualized in a person looks like personality. Trauma decontextualized in a family looks like family traits. Trauma in a people looks like culture.” – Resmaa Menakem

Our task is to remember the historic context & intergenerational patterns that have deeply embedded & normalized violence in every aspect of our lives. With truthful reckoning, there comes a serious responsibility for healing & reparations at multiple scales. This is the urgent liberation work that we must engage in interpersonally & globally. This is the work of remembering & recreating cultures which courageously affirm life, reciprocity, and honoring all our relations on earth. This is the work of remembering what it means to be human. –Sarah Sao Mai Habib

SFAI140 Video Presentation

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