For the 50th (!) episode of Momus: The Podcast, Lauren Wetmore speaks to Nasrin Himada, a Palestinian curator and writer who is currently associate curator at the Agnes Etherington Art Centre at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. “I write for my people. I write for Palestinians, and I write for the liberation of our lands,” Himada says of their practice, which foregrounds “embodiment as method, desire as transformation, and liberation through many forms.” Wetmore and Himada discuss esteemed Caribbean-Canadian poet and writer M. NourbeSe Philip’s text, “Interview with an Empire” (2003), thinking through how Philip teaches us to decontaminate language from imperialism so that it can “truly speak our truths.” Himada touches on strategies, including artistic experimentation, collective action, and love.
Momus: The Podcast is edited by Jacob Irish, with production assistance from Chris Andrews.
Many thanks to this episode’s sponsors: the Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery’s In/Tension podcast, and the Sobey Art Awards at the National Gallery of Canada.