Biography

Mariam Ghani uses video, installation, performance, photography and text to explore notions of place, identity, community and history in work that often has an aspect of public dialogue or engagement.

Her collaboration with Erin Ellen Kelley for the 9th Sharjah Biennial (2009) was no exception.  Smile, you're in Sharjah is a study of the patterns and rhythms of human movement in the shared spaces of the city. Occasionally Ghani and Kelly will intervene to highlight certain aspects of this social choreography but the final result is a work that gives a sense of the currents and connectivity underpinning and sustaining the life of Sharjah.

Ghani’s work has been screened and exhibited internationally and some projects such as Kabul: Partial Reconstructions (2002-07) and Index of the Disappeared (2004-ongoing), span several years. Her work has been shown widely in exhibitions and screenings including at Futura, Prague (2010), CEPA Gallery, Buffalo, New York (2010), Momenta Art, Brooklyn (2010), Beijing Biennial (2009), Sharjah Biennial (2009), Creative Time, NY (2008), National Gallery, Washington DC (2008), and Tate Modern, London (2007).

Ghani has a BA in Comparative Literature from NYU (2000) and an MFA from the School of Visual Arts, New York (2002). She teaches at Cooper Union and in the Art and Public Policy programme at NYU. She has been awarded the NYFA and Soros New Americans Fellowships as well as numerous grants and residencies in the US and Europe, most recently the LMCC Swing Space Residency, Governors Island, (2010). Mariam Ghani was born in New York, USA, in 1978 and is based in Brooklyn.

October 2010