Invitation to Tea
A Tea Project Archive
& Recipe Book

Edited by Aaron Hughes & Amber Ginsburg

Fall 2022 | StepSister Press

Tea is something that we all share.—Mohamedou Ould Slahi, Guantánamo torture survivor

Invitation to Tea compiles 48 tea recipes, stories, and traditions, one for each of the countries that have had citizens extralegally held at the US military prison in Guantánamo. Highlighting the resistance of the people imprisoned there—780 since 2001—the recipes are paired with images of porcelain cast Styrofoam cups inscribed with flowers, inspired by stories of these men carving into Styrofoam cups as a form of expression, survival, and resistance. Again and again, these men made a mark, created beauty, and asserted their humanity, undermining the carceral logic of Guantánamo. The tea recipes in this book, which vary from sweet and milky to astringent and spicy, are a celebration of this resistance and traditions passed down from generation to generation—traditions of comfort, medicine, generosity, and solidarity.

CONTRIBUTORS:

Michael Rakowitz, Aliya Hana Hussain, Laura Pitter, and Erika Rappaport

Remaking the Exceptional
Tea, Torture, and Reparations
| Chicago to Guantánamo

Edited by Amber Ginsburg, Aaron Hughes,
Aliya Hussain, & Audrey Petty

July 2022 | University of Chicago Press

Accompanying the exhibition curated by artists Ginsburg and Hughes, this book brings together artwork and writing by torture survivors, artists, and scholars.

Remaking the Exceptional: Tea, Torture, & Reparations | Chicago to Guantánamo, published on the occasion of the exhibition at DePaul Art Museum, brings together activists, artists, poets, and torture survivors to investigate and resist the ecosystems of violence that connect Chicago to the US military prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Edited by artists and co-curators Amber Ginsburg and Aaron Hughes with Aliya Hussain (Center for Constitutional Rights) and Audrey Petty (Illinois Humanities), Remaking the Exceptional features new pieces of investigative journalism on the connections between military and police torture by Kari Lydersen (Medill School of Journalism) and Maira Khwaja (Invisable Institute), Spencer Ackerman’s 2015 Guardian exposé “Bad Lieutenant,” reflections on struggles for justice and reparations by Aliya Hussain, Alice Kim, and Aislinn Pulley, essays on art and resistance by Mansoor Adayfi, Marc Falkoff, and Tempestt Hazel, as well as interviews with Chicago and Guantánamo torture survivors. The richly illustrated catalogue is interspersed with poetry and artwork pairings by former and current imprisoned artists creating a virtual dialogue across carceral systems. The aim of the publication is to uncover moments of beauty, poetry, and shared humanity within and despite the traumas of state violence.

CONTRIBUTORS

Essayists: Aaron Hughes, Amber Ginsburg, Kari Lydersen with the Medill School of Journalism, Maira Khwaja with the Invisible Institute, Spencer Ackerman, Aliya Hussain, Alice Kim, Aislinn Pulley, Mansoor Adayfi, Marc Falkoff, and Tempestt Hazel

Interviewees: Kilroy Watkins, Moazzam Begg, Dorothy Burge, La Tanya Jenifor-Sublett, Mohamedou Ould Slahi, Ronald Kitchen, Mansoor Adayfi, Sabri al-Qurashi, & Anthony Holmes

Artists: Ghaleb Al-Bihani, Sabri al-Qurashi, Khalid Qasim, Ahmed Badr Rabbani, Muhammad Ansi, Damon Locks, Chicago Torture Justice Memorials with Joey Mogul, Molly Crabapple, Djamel Ameziane, Devon Daniels, Darrell Wayne Fair, Carlos J. Ayala, Dorothy Burge, Debi Cornwall, Sarah -Ji Rhee, Tea Project, Mike Sullivan, Ricky Quezada, Robert Curry, Darrell Cannon,
& Abu Zubaydah

Poets: Towfiq al Bihani, Eric Blackmon, Saleem Hue Penny, Tara Betts, Carlos Sirah, Moazzam Begg, Majid Khan, Frank Lopez, Adnan Farhan Abdul Latif, Jumah Al Dossari, Ustad Badruzzaman Badr, Devon Terrell, Shaker Abdurraheem Aamer, Johnny Taylor, Fernando Martí, Osama Abu Kabir, Siddiq Turkestani, & Shaikh Abdurraheem Muslim Dost