Interview of Naz

Naz is a gender non-conforming queer artist who works around in between spaces. They were born in Iran into a middle class muslim family, and followed their parents to the United States as a child in 1977. Naz recounts their experience of being an outsider in this country. They describe growing up as an immigrant and attending white Italian Irish catholic school in a polarized, racially divided city where they experienced hatred from their classmates and teachers, as well as working as a camera assistant in a misogynistic anti-muslim film industry in New York during the years leading up to 9/11. Naz questions the definition of community, and wants to bring an honest collaboration into this world. (Summary by Eunjong Choi.)