Naeem Mohaiemen, acclaimed filmmaker and visual artist, will visit campus for a special day of conversations and a film screening. Join us in the Oden Hall auditorium at 6:30 p.m. for a screening of the feature film Jole Dobe Na (Those Who Do Not Drown) (2020).

Currently on view in the Buchwald-Wright Gallery, Mohaiemen’s Light at the End of the Tunnel features two pieces created amid the Covid-19 pandemic. "Wooster Street" and “Karen’s Last Books (Ibsen to Nguyen)” serve as expressions of adaptation to uncertain times by two women: one, a New York artist, reminisces about her radical seventies art community, while the other, an educator in Maine, confronts the end of her life. Through these projects, Mohaiemen explores the relational aspects of oral history, investigating how shared collective and intimate memories endure and exert influence.

Mohaiemen’s visit to campus is part of a series of events to honor President Kornfeld’s upcoming inauguration and her contributions to the field of public health. He will meet with student groups and have conversations with Kenyon’s Department of Dance, Drama, and Film to discuss how the global pandemic changed how artists critically reflect and create, and the power of storytelling —against all odds—for the greater good. The day will culminate with a special screening of Jole Dobe Na (Those Who Do Not Drown), a 2020 feature prompted by Raqs Media Collective to explore modes of care and the afterlife of caregivers.

Naeem Mohaiemen was born in London, England, and grew up in Tripoli, Libya, and Dhaka Bangladesh. He received a BA in Economics from Oberlin College (1993) and PhD in Anthropology from Columbia University (2019). He was a Senior Research Fellow at Lunder Institute of American Art, Colby College; Nadir Mohamed Fellow at Ryerson Image Institute, Toronto; and Mellon Fellow at the Society of Fellows, Heyman Center, Columbia University.