Art + Design + Curate + Educate
Everything that I do and whatever I find interesting...
Studio Residency in Montcabrier, France.
Site-specific Installation at La Cure, Switzerland. Feb 23–March13th, 2015.
Through this visual narrative, I explored the Swiss and French borders. I interviewed the locals around the region to further expand my knowledge on a bilateral relationship, partnership, interaction and well balanced cultural exchanges.
Making of @ Generation at S0MA Gallery, Berlin. July 2016.
Utilizing paintings, prints, video projection, and a site-specific installation, this exhibition addresses the refugee crisis that has been unfolding in Syria and many other countries in the world. More people than ever are facing major humanitarian crisis – over 125 million people are displaced and have fled their homes as a result of war conflicts and persecution.
The Scheherazade Initiative: Empowering, Motivating and Inspiring Others
By Maria Uroos
According to the World Health Organization, Global and Regional Estimates of Violence Against Women review, in 2013 up to 35% of women worldwide have experienced either physical and/or sexual violence. Violence against women and girls impacts so many lives, it often leads the generous spirit in people who believe in making a change about something that has happened for many years.
The Scheherazade Initiative is a partnership between Music for Life International and the United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence against Women, to raise funds and public awareness for some of the world’s most catalytic, innovative, and promising approaches to eliminating gender-based violence.
Join The Scheherazade Initiative and continue this journey of igniting resilience, strength, wisdom and compassion for women and girls through great music. http://scheherazadeinitiative.org
On October 19, 2015, this initiative culminated a benefit concert of the great Scheherazade-inspired works of Rimsky-Korsakov and Maurice Ravel at Carnegie Hall. The benefit concert served as a tribute to the resilience of women, their families, and their communities in the face of often unspeakable violence as well as an urgent call to the global community to take action to make the world safe for our sisters, mothers, and daughters.
The concert was empowering and inspiring. It aimed to raise awareness and create global social impact through great music. The color orange was a uniting theme; it is the official color of the United Nations UNiTE Campaign to End Violence against Women. With the global effort to end violence against women and girls, in solidarity, the Empire State Building, United Nations Headquarters, and The Stern Auditorium Perelman Stage were illuminated in orange; the ensemble also wore orange shawls to represent enthusiasm, and determination.
Opening concert moments included powerful remarks by UN Under-Secretary and UN Women Executive Director H.E. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka. Bowie Snodgrass presented United Nations Deputy Secretary-General, H.E. Jan Eliasson. During the introduction Eliasson asserted, “there is still much work to be done. We must never doubt if our goal is achievable. I firmly believe that the coming year we will see a change, which has never occurred in human history. This century will be the century of women fully in power.”
Elmira Darvarova, former Concertmaster of the MET Orchestra, the first female concertmaster in the MET’s history served as the Concertmaster of the night. The distinguished Mezzo-Soprano and MET Opera star, Susanne Mentzer, gave voice to Ravel’s Shéhérazade during the concert. The concert also featured the Spoken Word Poet, Sarah Kay.
Artists included Robert Langevin, iconic Principal Flute of the New York Philharmonic, Richard Woodhams, the legendary Principal Oboe of The Philadelphia Orchestra, and Nancy Allen, the great Principal Harp of the New York Philharmonic, supported by our magnificent orchestra of principal artists from the NY Philharmonic, MET Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Orpheus, Buffalo Philharmonic, and 70 other orchestras, ensembles and music academies.
Artistic Director George Mathew noted, “Scheherazade embodies the power of women over the centuries, around the world who have creatively worked in spheres large and small, private and public to stop the violence. Scheherazade, as the narrator of the Tales of the 1001 Arabian Nights, is an archetypal figure, who not only neutralized the violence directed against herself but has enriched global folklore for generations. Over the last millennium, her legend has been an inspiration for composers, poets, writers, painters, sculptors and other artists.”
Photos by Chris Lee. Dan Dutcher PR
Architecture + Design = Art by Maria Uroos
The traditional distinctions between architecture, design and art are widely debated and at times they are often blurred, this exhibit highlights the importance of these disciplines. These artists ask us to consider architecture and design as artistic practices. Refusing traditional categories, this exhibition celebrates artists, architects and designers as visionaries.