STATEMENT ON THE CREATION AND SHARING OF PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE

To those who engage with my work,

​

As a producer, performer, playwright, and pedagogue, my artistic practice is rooted in the principles of remembrance, reaction, and reimagination. Through performance texts, performative actions, and pedagogical interventions, I claim spaces—both local and global—challenging the invisibility of my Muslim culture and identity within contemporary performance. My work emerges from an anti-colonial, anti-caste, and feminist lens, informed by my body’s history as both a witness and a record of violence, resilience, and joy.

​

I believe in the radical act of accessibility. The materials published on my website, as well as those embedded in my performances and pedagogical work, are available at no cost* or as affordably as possible to its end user. This is a conscious decision, driven by the understanding that much of my work has been made possible through publicly funded research, institutional support and the kindness and generosity of the community. Public knowledge should remain public.

​

In a world where knowledge, culture, and artistic expression are increasingly commodified, I stand by the principles of open-source, open-copyright, and free access*. Artistic work, especially that which is born from collective struggle and histories of marginalization, should not be gated behind paywalls or made inaccessible to those who need it most. My goal is to grow with the communities I work with and for, and this act of open-sharing is my commitment to that process.

​

To create is to contribute—to archives, to histories, to movements. To make accessible is to resist erasure and ensure that these contributions continue to reach those who seek them. In this spirit, I invite you to engage, to use, to transform, and to pass forward the knowledge embedded within these materials.

​

In solidarity and creation,

Mohammed Ellyas Lehry