Najva Sol

It’s been so long since I last updated! You can always check my Tumblr for recent photos!

Other than a few community art shows here & there, I’ve been working under-the-radar. That is, until South By South West. Since I got back and edited the almost 3000 photos, some have been posted on BUST, there’s a slideshow on Queerty, style shots up at the San Francisco Bay Guardian, and a recap of the whole she-bang (including a whole page of queer music!!) is up on Autostraddle.

Meanwhile,  I’ve been working on a glittering, draping, easy-chic clothing line with my best friend VAUNT– it’s called “Liberace Nation” and it should launch super-duper-soon– check the website for behind-the-scenes photos & a manifesto!

Last of all, it was Persian New Years! Eid Mubarak! May this year kick last year’s ass. xo

Where in the world haven’t I been lately? I’ve been travelling up and down the east coast on a merry round of adventures. I wound up in Miami shooting an event for Moleskine, 

an cardboard gun installation for Dazed Digital,

 and a queer guide for Autostraddle!

I also managed to get portraits of so many kick-ass female artists: Hadyen Dunham, Toyin Odutola, Shantell Martin, & more… Oh- and RACHEL MADDOW, my idol.

So much coming up in 2013! Stay tuned!

It’s been a while since I updated, but over the past few months, I’ve been all over the map! From performing on stage at House of Vans, to taking photos at the Democratic National Convention, to coordinating the first ever Brooklyn-wide open studio with the Brooklyn Museum… I haven’t taken a break in eons.

First, the performance at hot festival was a blast! I did my first  improv dance and sang a ton of songs w/ Natti.

Two days later, I had a piece in “Natural Fallacy”- my first DC group show!

Then in August, I found myself performing on stage with Nicky Da B & King Khan & the Shrines at House of Vans! We got sweaty and covered in confetti. You should have been there!

September rolls around and I’m whisked away to the DNC to see one of the most epic political conventions ever.

And then back to Brooklyn for Go Brooklyn Art open studio project, hosted by the Brooklyn Museum. I spent the entire summer coordinating all the Bed-Stuy artists & voters. The same weekend, my first digital art show popped up on an online gallery for a Czech Atelier. Back story: a Czech student received one of my postcards and decided to use my work to curate her thesis show– click on the photos for more!

Other than that, my interview was featured on Mouth of the Lion, and I was spotted by the Velvetroper at a Gawker event! Phew! What’s next, fall?

Transmography
Thirteen Fairytale Portraits of Queers Beyond the Gender Binary
by Molly Crabapple and Najva Sol

Transmogrify,Verb:
To transform, esp. in a surprising or magical manner

From poets to porn-stars, computer nerds to community gardeners, artists to activists: these portraits capture some of the real gender warriors today. They are trans, genderqueer, or just gender-fabulous, and they deserve their own magical realm.

Each portrait was shot by me with a lomo camera, then embellished by Molly Crabapple.  Show sponsored by Lomography.  Hope to see some of you at the New York opening!

Show Opens At Lomography stores in New York AND San Francisco
June 7th at 6- 9pm

New York Lomography Store: Facebook invite
41 West 8th Street
Manhattan, NY 10011
212-529-4351

San Fran Lomography Store: Facebook invite
309 Sutter Street
San Francisco, CA 94108
415-248-0096

If you missed seeing me last month on the Love, Inshallah Book Tour, this is your second chance to see me read the story the Washington Post was so excited about- and catch me in a polaroid costume! I’m touring the Northeast (Hampshire College, Boston, Providence, Jersey City, Baltimore, UMD, DC, Philadelphia, & NYC) with a dazzling cabaret of the femme(inine) spectrum- glitter & heels included!

If you’re interested in attending, get discount tickets & rad swag by supporting the tour on Kickstarter!

Click below for full tour info!

The Heels on Wheels Glitter Roadshow tours the United States annually with a dazzling cabaret of performance art works and acts of resistance by queer folks of femme-inine spectrum genders. The show itself consists of five performers, featuring a raucous, thought-provoking line-up of multi-media, literary and performing arts, music, puppetry, participatory art — and even dance parties. Our fearless artists rampage across the femme-inine spectrum-from hi-femme to femmedrogyny, dandy darling to ladybeast — in a wild revue of visceral, poetic, performance, emotional escape plans in wild workout gear, dark whimsical puppetry, innovative intersectionality, and rocknroll you can sink your heels into!

“The Heels on Wheels Roadshow is a glorious campaign to put femininity in the spotlight. I totally applaud and approve. It is a delicious combination touring glitterati and local sparkle that showcases some serious queer talent. Don’t let them pass you by!”
– Lois Weaver, Obie-Award Winning Performer, Lecturer Queen Mary University of London

The 2012 tour is the third, and features experienced performers Damien Luxe, Geppetta, Heather Acs, Najva Sol, and Shomi Noise, with wrangler/visual artist Lizxnn Disaster, and runs April 6-14, 2012. This show is unique to and engaged with each place it lands in. Heels on Wheels lives the dream by including local acts, facilitating discussions on activist art, and will install “Femme That Frame,” a temporary political art intervention each day of the tour!

By actively complicating what it looks like, sounds like, IS like to shamelessly and lovingly  represent femininity, dandyness, fey, femme and queer lady, this work confronts misogyny and sexism and uses cultural works to sabotage the hegemonic status quo of gender, sexuality, and “feminine” appearance, replacing it with many visions and ideas of what thriving and surviving as femme folks can be.

Heels on Wheels emerges from an active anti-oppression, intersectional, liberatory standpoint: who is touring, the art they share onstage, and community organizing in their home city of Brooklyn all intend to build power for traditionally-marginalized LGBTQ stories and people. The tour is working class-led and multi-racial, and includes cisgendered and trans folks, QPOC, mixed race folks, sex workers, immigrants: all fiercely political feminist queer artists whose work weaves punk herstories, survival strategies, and wild costuming into escape artistry. These are stories that do not have enough outlets on a regular basis and that’s one reason this tour is important!

Stillettos fly, gender justice prevails, and fairytales fracture as we travel through space, time, and stardust to a city in the Northeast near you!

Full Tour Schedule:

• Friday April 6: Hampshire College @ QIPOC Block Party with local artists and a band and a dance party! [893 West Street, Amherst, MA; Arts Village outdoors venue; wheelchair accessible; all-ages; $Free; doors 7:30/show 8p]
• Saturday April 7: Providence, RI @ Youth Pride Inc., 3-5pm [743 Westminster st., Providence, RI 02903]
• Saturday April 7: Providence, RI @ B16, email secretdoorprojects@gmail.com for location
• Sunday April 8: Boston, MA @ Lorem Ipsum Books [1299 Cambridge St., at Inman Square) Cambridge MA; 7pm doors/event 7:30; $5-10; Sponsored by the Papercut Zine Library]
• Monday April 9: New Jersey [Venue TBA]
• Tuesday April 10: Baltimore, MD @ Whole Gallery [405 W. Franklin St. Floor 3  Baltimore, MD 21201; doors 8/show 8:30p; all-ages; $5-$10]
• Wednesday April 11: University of Maryland [Benjamin Banneker Room in the Stamp Student Union, University of MD, College Park, MD; all-ages; $Free; time TBA]
• Thursday April 12: Washington DC @ DC Center [1318 U Street NW Washington, DC, 20009; doors 7:30/show 8p; all-ages; $5-$12]
• Friday April 13: Philadelphia, PA @ Vox Populi, [319 North 11th, Philadelphia; doors 8:30/show 9p; all-ages; $5-$12]
• Saturday April 14: Brooklyn, NYC @ The Spectrum, [59 Montrose Ave 11206 near L, G, and J Trains; doors 8:30/show 9p; all-ages; $5-$15]

Find the Heels on Wheels Glitter Roadshow online!
Website: www.heelsonwheelsroadshow.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/heelsonwheelsroadshow
Twitter: @howroadshow // #heelsonwheels
Pre-sale tickets & tour Donations: www.kickstarter.com/projects/962427077/heels-on-wheels-roadshow-2012-gas-and-tour-fund

Where have I been and where am I going?

Well, this is tomorrow, and I’ve been working around the clock (amidst moving back to Brooklyn) to bring this bit of magic to you. Special pseudo-secret guest reader Jennifer Blowdryer just announced!

Something New is an underground creative showcase featuring a monthly hand-picked roster of our favorite brilliant creators from the NYC and surrounding areas.

Our first event is coming up on Tuesday, March 27th and is called “Dress Up / Get Down”. Check your press badges at the door – this is a night celebrating theother side of fashion. The side that’s not sponsored by a multi-million dollar car company; the side of fashion that’s happening in sewing studios and on the streets. We’re celebrating one of our favorite media: wearable art.

So what to expect?

Host and nightlife maverick Leo Gugu Geaux, avant-garde monster burlesque by Laura McMillan, cheeky readings from Thought Catalog editor Ryan O’Connell, a spandex circus runway show by Third Earth Designs, performance and videos by Andrea Diodati and Occupy Fashion Week, stylish rhyme-spitter Mykki Blanco, booty-short bumpin’ DJ Nolita Selector, and cosmopolitan cabaret by Rococo Caine.  We’ll also have local designers, including Klub Kid Vintage, prancing around in fresh duds, a mini pop-up shop, and a faux-shion contest with prizes donated by photographers, and local boutiques and event sponsors AUH2O, Yours Truly Brand and Uncropped Magazine.

Guests are encouraged to use this opportunity to show the world their inner-beauty, personality, and impeccable taste. Save the date, and get ready to dress up and get down!

PS. Here’s an insider tip: for your personal invite and a secret code to get reduced admission, RSVP at SomethingNewNY.com

It’s been a busy month in the Najva Sol-verse. But here’s the updates:

1. Tour dates have been added to the Love, Inshallah  book tour! The feedback has been absolutely *breathtaking* and I’m proud to announce that I’ll be reading at:

HARVARD (Cambridge)- Feb 13th, COLUMBIA (NYC)- Feb 15th, BLUESTOCKINGS (NYC)- Feb 16th, and BUSBOYS & POETS (DC)- Feb 20th.

2. Autrostraddle included my work in a post called “Art Attack: 100 Queer Women Artists in Your Face!”- next to a mix of goddesses Catherine Opie & Frida Khalo, and other google-worthy emerging artists. I’m number 21- with a Lomography photo of  Katie, the  Babes of NPR blog-mastermind.

3. I’m playing a show with my Let Bloom EP partner-in-song Natti Vogel at the Lilypad in BOSTON this SUNDAY FEB 12th.  More information on the show is available here.

I’ve been counting so many lucky stars that I’m amassing galaxies in my pockets.

2012 is turning out to be a busy year!

-First things first, this Saturday night in Brooklyn I’m a featured video artist at the Gowanus Art Fair thrown by  Collective BK with Lowbrow Society‘s own Gwynn Galitzer. It promises to be an unmissable night of one-act plays, local bands, visual art, burlesque, and endless surprises held at the 12,000-square-foot steel mill turned artists space, Gowanus Ballroom.

-Second, despite multiple brushes with Voice of America Iran (I made a visit to spit-fire comedy & politics show Parazit’s live taping  & have cameo in the Mapriya Art segment)- I haven’t ever been a main subject of a piece. That is, till today! Wonderful vegan filmmaker Arash  interviewed me as part of a piece about the Love, InshAllah anthology. We drank fresh veggie juice, talked about queerness & Islam, and chatted about my story “The First Time.”

-Which leads me to….Love, InshAllah book release events on the east coast are being announced. Current dates: Harvard University (MA)/ Feb. 13th + Bluestockings Bookstore (NY)/Feb 16th. I’ll update with more info ASAP!

-Lastly, if you want a daily dose of art- I’m still updating my Tumblr with photos all the time. Happy browsing!

There are more projects in the works than I can mention here, but suffice it say that 2012 is brimming with possibility.

Meanwhile, my entire Coco and Breezy shoot is up on my Tumblr.

Also, just last week, I got to visit the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art and see  a piece I helped with at Elsewhere Collaborative  on display as part of the “Here” exhibit . 

More photos of the piece can be found on my facebook!

Welcome to the future!