Saba N. Maheen


I am a multimodal maker, thinker, and educator working with image, reproduction, & participation.  Artifacts may take form through designed experiences, queer data visualizations, and publication about alternate futures.  See select projects


  1. INTERCESSION
  2. Starlings : Leaflets
  3. On the QR
  4. Kuffiyeh/Shemagh 
  5. SUMUD
  6. Dreams for Liberation
  7. Poppy Seeds
  8. UNFOLDING
  9. Responding to a Genocide
  10. Iterativity in Processing

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©2024 Mag-Ex

P002 → Starlings : Leaflets

I compare starling murmuration and footage of the evacuation leaflets airdropped over the Gaza Strip in the last year and a half in this 2-channel projector and sound installation.  Project and site made in collaboration with Bryce Wilner in Web Projects 23S. 

See Companion Site Here

This site acts as a companion to the audio/video installation below.




Channel 1: Footage of leaflets with evacuation messages
airdropped by IOF over gaza oct-dec 2023, from various
news sources. Looped 52 seconds.
Channel 2: Footage of starling murmuration, from Israeli
wildlife videographer, Yuval Dax. Looped 1 min 51 seconds.





In the Channel 1 video, lines of a poem appear periodically as a caption 
at the bottom of the screen, in Arabic script and English type. The poem,
by Palestinian Poet, Marwan Makhoul, is as follows:

In order for me to write poetry that isn’t political
I must listen to the birds
and in order to hear the birds
the warplanes must be silent.









This is one of the first works where I have been able to share with comrades at long distance, so that it can be installed without my presence so long as one has the appropriate space and 2 good projectors. Most recently it was shared at Junction Arts & Media in White River Junction, VT, as part of the screening and panel of No Other Land (2024) at White River Indie Film Festival 2025. Kindly reach out if you are interested in displaying this piece. 

Details for install:
It exists in a white-walled room, at a minimum length of 15 feet and width of 12 feet. At the back of the room exists 2 projectors that face the front wall, and each have a corresponding speaker placed on the floor, connected by a wire that runs toward the front corners of the room, on each respective side. The speakers face inward toward the center of the room. The videos projected are overlayed flush atop eachother; at full resolution (1920x1080), the length of the projection displayed should be at least 8 feet, about a foot or less off the ground. In some installations, this may be projection mapped to the edges of the front wall, at modified resolution.