Join us at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center for a screening of Trail Markers and a conversation with the film's creator Mona Gazala.

Following the screening, participants are invited to join Mandy Shunnarah, an Alabama-born Appalachian and Palestinian-American writer based out of Columbus, Ohio, for a docupoetics workshop that examines how poetry can bear witness to the world around us.

Agenda

1:00-2:30 p.m.: Film screening, Trail Markers, in Harriet Tubman Theater
2:45-4:30 p.m.: Docupoetics workshop in Discovery Room 1, Third Floor

Trail Markers is a documentary by Palestinian-American artist Mona Gazala that explores movement, memory, and the ways histories are marked, and erased, across landscapes.

Part artist autobiography and part historical documentary, Trail Markers follows Gazala’s move to rural Darke County, Ohio, and her discovery of the unlikely existence of a significant artifact related to Palestine’s history. What is the artifact, housed in the county museum only 8 miles from her new home, and how did it wind up there?

Trail Markers investigates how mechanisms of empires cross oceans and continents and embed themselves in the world around us. It weaves personal narrative with broader questions of displacement, land and belonging, while drawing connections between local and global struggles for freedom.

Poets are keen observers of the world and are always trying to make sense of what it means to be alive here, now, in this moment. Docupoetics, or documentary poetry, is one way poets do that. By letting the latest headlines inspire poems and using journalistic skills — such as interviews, embedded citations, and historical, academic, and archival research — poets bring an urgent voice and a critical eye to the issues of the day. In this workshop, you'll learn about the history of docupoetics, what poets are drawn to the subgenre and why, and you'll be guided through a generative writing exercise to pen your own documentary poem.

Speaker Bios

Mona Gazala

Mona Gazala (she/her) is a Palestinian-American artist living in west central Ohio. She holds a master’s degree from the Ohio State University in studio arts with a specialization in city & regional planning. Her practice, which is multi-disciplinary and often socially engaged, explores and exposes dynamics of power and systems of oppression that often manifest in the built environment. This includes what is visible as well as what has been erased in structures, neighborhoods and geographies.

Gazala is the recipient of numerous grants from the Ohio Arts Council, Greater Columbus Arts Council, Franklinton Arts District, Puffin Foundation West, Ohio Alliance for Arts Education, Decapital, and the Hishmeh Foundation, to undertake creative work centered on community-building, social justice and activism.

(she/her) is a Palestinian-American artist living in west central Ohio. She holds a master’s degree from the Ohio State University in studio arts with a specialization in city & regional planning. Her practice, which is multi-disciplinary and often socially engaged, explores and exposes dynamics of power and systems of oppression that often manifest in the built environment. This includes what is visible as well as what has been erased in structures, neighborhoods and geographies.

Mandy Shunnarah

Mandy Shunnarah (they/them) is an Alabama-born Appalachian and Palestinian-American writer in Columbus, Ohio. Their essays, poetry, and short stories have been published in Electric Literature, The Rumpus, Black Warrior Review, and others. Their first book, Midwest Shreds: Skating Through America’s Heartland, was released in 2024 from Belt Publishing, and their second book, a poetry collection titled We Had Mansions, was published by Diode Editions in 2025. Read more at mandyshunnarah.com.