Documentary filmmaker and artist Matt Peterson will present on his research project The Native and the Refugee, a multimedia documentary which investigates and juxtaposes the struggles, communities, and spaces of the Palestinian refugee camp and the American Indian reservation. Initiated in 2014 in collaboration with Malek Rasamny, their project focuses on camps in the West Bank and Lebanon, as well as reservations in Arizona, New Mexico, New York, and South Dakota. The Native and the Refugee includes the widely screened feature film Spaces of Exception, which is an attempt to understand the significance of the land – its memory and divisions – and the conditions for life, community, and sovereignty.

Spaces of Exception features interviews with members of the American Indian Movement, the Mohawk Warrior Society, and Diné families resisting displacement on Black Mesa, as well as Palestinian militant organizations based in the camps, alongside environmental activists, autonomous youth committees, and the families of political prisoners and martyrs. We will screen excerpts of the work as part of the event.