encouraging cross-pollination of the spectatorship. We are particularly pleased to introduce our readers to her captivating and multifaceted artistic production. Hello Erin and welcome to : we would like to introduce you to our readers with a couple of questions about your background. You have a solid formal training and you hold a Ph.D. in Art History with a specialization in Contemporary Art, that you received from Indiana University: how did these experiences influence your artistic evolution? Moreover, how would you describe the influence of your cultural substratum on your general vision on art? At IU, there was a strong emphasis on identity studies that permeated many of the programs there, including art history. It’s the first school in the United States to have a degree program in Women’s Studies, and it has a great AfricanAmerican and African Diasporic Studies department. Other than Contemporary Art, I had no idea what I wanted to study while at IU and that was intentional; I wanted to be hit by something while I was there. And eventually it was the amazing performative works by women, transnational artists from predominantly the Middle East region, that struck me. Eventually, I would write a dissertation on Shirin Neshat. I had already experimented with performance before coming to IU and while I was there I took a course in video. But I wouldn’t seriously practice again until after I defended the dissertation. Writing that was just too all consuming. But my studies there brought together these components of performativity, video, and feminist methodologies when I was ready to practice again. It’s particularly performativity and my perspective as a woman that underpins everything I do.
interview
Women Cinemakers