In 2019, Silk Road Rising’s Founding Co-Executive Artistic Director, Malik Gillani, suffered a stroke that resulted in aphasia (a language disorder) and apraxia of speech (a speech disorder). Silk Road Rising has since made a commitment to generating awareness around these little-known yet common conditions, and to showcase Silk Road experiences within stroke recovery discourse.

Silk Road Rising is developing The Art of Aphasia, a live theatre production that centers Malik’s aphasia journey and his relentless determination to regain his voice. Amplifying the very intersectional story a disabled, Muslim, queer, immigrant, person of color is critical to expanding representation around neurodiversity and disability justice.

The Art of Aphasia is a first-of-its-kind collaboration in partnership with the Stroke and Aphasia Recovery (STAR) program at Texas Tech University’s Health Sciences Center and the J.T. & Margaret Talkington College of Visual and Performing Arts at TTU.