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Return to Sender: Women of Color in Colonial Postcards & the Politics of Representation

Mara Ahmed’s Return to Sender: Women of Color in Colonial Postcards & the Politics of Representation (2023) is a short, experimental film that pushes the documentary medium in unexpected ways. It opens with three contemporary South Asian American women who recreate British colonial postcards from the early 20th century. Dressed in lavish traditional attire and jewelry and shot exquisitely in a darkened studio, the women emulate the awkward poses of the postcard women, only to subvert the colonial male gaze and acquire autonomy by choosing an action of their own. This symbolic ‘returning’ of the Orientalist gaze is layered with discussions about Eurocentric beauty standards, representations of South Asian women in media and culture, stereotypes, othering, identity and belonging. The film hopes to create community by facilitating conversations about erasure and the politics of representation. A short PowerPoint presentation will be made by Mara prior to the screening to name and explore some of the themes discussed in the documentary and allow for a richer viewing. The presentation will end with a group discussion in which people will try to figure out what a decolonial feminist lens can mean. 

Mara Ahmed

Mara Ahmed was educated in Belgium, Pakistan and the United States and holds an MBA and a Master’s in Economics. She studied art at Nazareth College and film at the Visual Studies Workshop and the Rochester Institute of Technology. She produces documentaries, soundscapes, and artwork that challenge borders and colonial logics. Her films have been broadcast on PBS and screened at international film festivals. Her 2015 film, A Thin Wall, won a special jury prize at the 2018 Amsterdam Film Festival. Return to Sender received a 2023 New York State Council on the Arts Film Grant and was showcased along with its companion art exhibition (including photography and collage work in conversation with the film) at the Huntington Historical Society’s History and Decorative Arts Museum. The artist lives and works on Long Island, New York. More info at maraahmedstudio.com.

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