All are welcome to attend this free performance by Odd Arts
Doc Shah representing UNBLINKERED MEDIA
The Doc Shah isn’t from another planet. I don’t have super strength, I can’t outrun bullets or fly but with unclipped wings, my inner Lois Lane gumshoe attitude combined with the photo-journalism skills of Peter Parker, lie in pursuit of being an ambitious video-journalist, and audio-visual artist covering themes of race, class, gender, culture and the arts, reflective of a multi-cultural and faceted society. My past may appear to be one of privilege found within the academic echelons of history and screen studies. If the truth be known, I’m mixed raced from a working-class background. The story does not stop there for it embodies the progress and human struggles within a cycle of advances and setbacks. Yet, my background, vicarious PhD title and growing body of work aim to create a transferable and informed off-brand perspective on human stories and the surrounding world considerate of a diverse audience. I continue to document and engage with the arts via a blog, whilst contributing to academic publications and social media pages. Within this realm, I’ve vlogged film and book reviews and participated with radio and theatre plays. My involvement with the arts scene has fostered content for fanzines, the music press, screenings, DVDs and radio appearances. Within global communities, I’ve produced content for Non-profit organisations based in Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. These experiences have whetted my appetite to document stories be it for knowledge, truth or entertainment and develop both my writing and audio-visual skills with an aim to learn from and be of service to the public.
SULTANATE Preview Showing
Friday 29th November 2019
SLATE North West Artists Showcase
Venue: HOME Manchester
Time: 4pm - 7.30pm
SULTANATE with live musical accompaniment by the talented Amin Bay on the Persian Santoor will be showcased at HOME Manchester and supported by the ECLIPSE THEATRE
Book Review for Animation in the Middle East
Here is a summarised version of Sabina's book review on Animation in the Middle East: Practice and Aesthetics from Baghdad to Casablanca'.
Sultan Razia on Rajya Sabha TV
Snippets of Sabina's animation Sultan Razia were used for the documentary Talking History. The documentary was made and aired on Rajya Sabha Television (RSTV), which is owned and operated by the upper house of the Indian Parliament.
The episode may be viewed on YouTube - (Please rewind the video to the beginning).
The Will of Sultan Iltutmish
Sabina's latest work in progress rough cut edit for Sultan Razia. As of yet there is no sound and the tableaux are an approximate guide to what might be written for the final piece.
In this scene, Sultan Iltutmish requests that his daughter Razia to be successor of the Delhi Sutanate. Circa 28th April 1236CE/634 Hejira.
Act 1 with scenes 1-3 are an attempt to subvert gendered stereotypes that may destabilise audience preconceptions of the soldier's gender. For when the soldier removes their helmet the audience acknowledges the female protagonist Razia.
Presentation Video
Sabina Shah presenting her current Ph.D research project
The paper is titled 'Muslim Women's Agency and the Dissemination of Research'
Impact - Cultivating Research Postgraduate Symposium
Martin Harris Centre for Music and Drama
University of Manchester
26.05.2012
PhD Research Abstract
ABSTRACT
The Portrayal of the
Historical Muslim Female on Screen
A thesis and two 15-minutes episodes of
animation submitted to the
University of Manchester for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
in the Faculty of Humanities
Sabina Shah
School of Arts, Languages
and Cultures
24.1.2017
Representations
of the Muslim female are value-laden synonymous with the act of veiling. Veiling has fuelled political, social and academic
debates and this study contributes to the ongoing conversation alongside
identity formation by examining the image of the Muslim female on-screen with
due attention given to animation. The
image of the Muslim female is drawn in all manner of directions from that of
the belly-dancing beauty to the ‘bundle in black’, the latter often associated
with terrorism, particularly post-9/11 and the consequent ‘War on Terror’.
There is another direction that proffers an idealised image of the good
daughter and dutiful wife against that of the fallen woman. Such constructs I argue tend to rid the
Muslim female of her agency. This thesis examines how and why various
representations of the Muslim female have emerged and changed, whilst some
aspects have remained stagnant over time, thus positioning on-screen
representations within their historical context.
This
project goes beyond traditional academic methods of critical analysis in
reading film. The hybridised role of the
researcher-animator enables the study to offer a critique from that of the
spectator, but with the added vantage point of the practitioner with a set
focus on the making of meaning. The
interdisciplinary approach incorporates film theory, specifically concerned
with representations of race and gender. The work of Muslim women
scholar-activists informs and inspires the practice in reclaiming the status of
the Muslim woman. Their approach lies
within three trajectories being gender-sensitive interpretations of the Qur’an,
a recovery of Muslim women’s history and a critique on representation. Their
approaches fall in line with the aim of this project to reclaim the historical
Muslim figure on screen, whereas animation provides an attractive yet versatile
mode of production to carry out such a task.
Key
questions guiding this study are: why are current and existing portrayals of
the historical Muslim female problematic? Why do these portrayals need to be
addressed? Why does an alternative approach to the portrayal of the historical
Muslim female need to be devised and put into practice? Finding the answers to these questions lie in
the undertaking of the practice. The
practice consists of the first two episodes of a five-part series titled Sultan Razia, and as the title suggests
the animation is based upon a legendary historical Muslim female figure, who
ruled the Sultanate of Delhi between 634-638 Hejira/1236-1240CE. This project
is an example of how theory works in practice and vice-versa to determine an
audio-visual practice that re-inserts the Muslim female into a history that
breaks away from established clichés.
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