Amjad Majid

Amjad Majid

Amjad Majid is the editor and founder of Inverse Journal. He has worked as a teacher, IT consultant, and research scholar in China, Spain and the US. In his free time, Amjad is a part-time art writer and critic, with writings featured in art catalogues, books, international exhibitions, biennales, art journals and magazines, with some of such writing translated into Chinese. Beyond his work at Inverse Journal, Amjad develops independent projects as a web developer and IT consultant in the creative industry while also teaching writing, literature and IB English. His interests include literary theory, Spanish and Spanish-American literature, contemporary art, cultural studies, hardware assembly, information technology and digital studies.
Gaash — A Call to Remembrance

Gaash — A Call to Remembrance

On August 18th of 1990, Parveena Ahangar’s 17-year-old son Javaid Ahmed was taken by a specialized counter-insurgency group (the National Security Guards of the Indian Army) during a night raid at her neighborhood in Batamaloo, Srinagar. Since then, her quest to find her son and her demand for justice persist. At this 32nd year since Javaid’s enforced disappearance, this poem makes a call to remembrance for those who stand in solidarity with his mother Parveena and with the many Kashmiri families she represents as Founder of the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons, Kashmir.

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Exhibition Review: “I am looking for you like a drone, my love” by Aziz Hazara + Unknown Carpet Makers

Exhibition Review: “I am looking for you like a drone, my love” by Aziz Hazara + Unknown Carpet Makers

Amjad Majid presents a review of “I am looking for you like a drone, my love”, an exhibition showcasing work by Aziz Hazara and unknown carpet makers. Curated by Dr. David Sequeira, the exhibition is on display at the Fiona & Sidney Myer Gallery, Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne from April 14 to May 21, 2022. Inverse Journal has included an independently curated visual bibliography to familiarize readers and viewers with the Afghan artist’s extensive art practice.

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MUSIC FEATURE: A Song by Kristina Jacobsen Inspired by Ather Zia’s Poem “i. will. cross.” + Exclusive Interview with the Two Professors

MUSIC FEATURE: A Song by Kristina Jacobsen Inspired by Ather Zia’s Poem “i. will. cross.” + Exclusive Interview with the Two Professors

In a rare and unprecedented instance, two professors from two different cultures meet at the crossroads of verse and song to produce a creative collaboration around the themes of Indigeneity, marginality, war, colonization, and erasure. The result is an adaptation of Professor Ather Zia’s poem “i. will. cross.” into a song composed and performed by Professor Kristina Jacobsen. Along with Kristina Jacobsen’s song recording (mixed and mastered by Drake Hardin), we reproduce Ather Zia’s poem as well as a recorded recitation by the poet (republished from Sapiens via CC BY-ND 4.0), followed by an exclusive Q&A with the two professors and a list of relevant links for those interested in their extensive work.

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On Gaekhir Republik and the Contemporary Kashmiri Music Scene — by Amjad Majid

On Gaekhir Republik and the Contemporary Kashmiri Music Scene — by Amjad Majid

Amjad Majid presents three live performances by Kashmiri music collective Gaekhir Republik that rescue the soul from the constructed time imposed on a subject confined to an equally constructed space, far removed from the Kashmir whose memory we struggle to keep palpitant. In the process, Majid addresses larger questions regarding contemporary Kashmiri music, locating Gaekhir Republik’s performances and musical style within developing notions of such music that this young generation of musicians is shaping along with their peers in the nascent contemporary Kashmiri music scene.

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Decussate Art: The Artful Collaborations of Waswo X. Waswo and R. Vijay — by Amjad Majid

Decussate Art: The Artful Collaborations of Waswo X. Waswo and R. Vijay — by Amjad Majid

In this extensive review, Amjad Majid introduces “Like a Leaf in Autumn,” the latest exhibition by Waswo X. Waswo in collaboration with R. Vijay. Currently on exhibit at New Delhi’s Gallery Espace, the ongoing show closes on November 16th and brings together a vast collection of miniatures, sculptures and sculptural installations, and a few other works produced over the last two years. “Like a Leaf in Autumn” takes its title from a line in Orhan Pamuk’s novel “My Name is Red” and reflects the culmination of twelve years of Waswo X. Waswo’s collaborative work with miniaturist R. Vijay.

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Professor Ather Zia on Articles 370/35A and the Ongoing Siege, Lockdown and Blackout Imposed on Kashmir

Professor Ather Zia on Articles 370/35A and the Ongoing Siege, Lockdown and Blackout Imposed on Kashmir

Here is a list of Professor Ather Zia’s interventions in the global media regarding the Indian government’s abrupt and secretive decision to repeal Articles 370 and 35A of the Indian constitution. Also included is a useful visual bibliography for our readers, scholars, researchers and journalists to become more acquainted with Professor Zia’s extensive work in multiple relevant and intersecting fields of knowledge centered on Kashmir, its past and its present, and above all, focusing on its peoples.

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Paseo: Poetry to Disarm a War — by Amjad Majid

Paseo: Poetry to Disarm a War — by Amjad Majid

The Spanish Civil War and its memorialization has become an institution unto itself in contemporary Spain. On a yearly basis, new films, novels, poems, texts of fiction, scholarship and research emerge to expand the culture of revisiting, exploration and study brought about by this defining event of Spanish history. One such film, a short one, is the 2007 Paseo (translated “A Walk”) that takes one of the most famous poems by Mario Benedetti (“Corazón coraza,” translated “Armored Heart”) to weave a story about three men waiting for an inevitable encounter.

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