Momtaza Mehri
momtaza mehri. poet. ruffneck.
writer. reader. researcher. poetry. cyberspace. youth. diasporic art. transculture/s. black studies stan. mumtazamehri@gmail.com
PROJECTS
openspace.sfmoma.org
On Pop & Petroleum
On Arab pop, Saudi princes, soft power and the scam that is pan-Arab media.
openspace.sfmoma.org
Mundane Travels
On the time-travelling poetics of Vince Staples, Moor Mother, South African art and who we leave behind to get ahead.
openspace.sfmoma.org
On Noise & Networks
On resilience, noise and the networked feminisms of #MeToo + beyond.
openspace.sfmoma.org
Theorems of Separation
Perhaps we need to face the terrifying and overwhelming possibility that there are no models, that we shall have to create from scratch.
— Toni Cade Bambara, On The Issue of Roles (1969)
First column as Columnist-in-Residence for San Francisco Museum of Modern Art's Open Space. On Pasolini, Kanye, Azealia Banks and our own degrees of separation from artists vs their art.
fourhubs.com
10 Poets Bound to Shift UK Poetry
Featured in Four Hubs '10 Poets Bound to Shift UK Poetry'.
poetrysociety.org.uk
Oiled Legs Have Their Own Subtext
Poem won 3rd prize for the 2017 National Poetry Competition, judged by Hannah Lowe, Andrew McMillan and Pascale Petit,
sunsong.co
The Apocalypse Will Taste Like Grape Juice
“Those days madrassa meant a room above the café. No chairs. Laughter and conspiracy. Sizzled fat to perfume the conversation of men too long in the tooth for niceties. They had no indoor voices. We would impersonate the shoulder pop of the Indian Ocean.”
openspace.sfmoma.org
Who is Welcome in Wakanda? On Black Panther & Contradictory Afrofuturisms
“What does it mean to pursue futures that leave the rest of us behind?''
On Black Panther's dazzling and equally frustrating power.
spkofmarvels.wordpress.com
Sugah Lump Prayer Interview (Akashic Books, 2017)
“I’m endlessly fascinated with the odds of being a specific person in a specific place at a specific time. The arbitrariness of it all.”
Sugah Lump Prayer (Akashic Books, 2017)
BBC
Pick a Sky and Name It
Exploring my poetics, writing journey, inter-generational influences and diasporic literature. Music selected by me.
Google Drive Document
The Black Muslimah Toolkit
A toolkit featuring: poetry, essays, black/muslim scholarship, interviews, music & more. Donation link within.
Medium
When Your First Therapist Is A Rapper
“It’s often said that black people, particularly low-income black people, don’t talk about mental health enough. Immigrant black communities, even less so. Yet, rap as a narrative tradition contradicts this oversimplification.”