This show is part of my ongoing larger project, Sawad Thakira Albahar Ahmar (Black Memory Red Sea). Through this project, i contend with secrecy, kinship, displacement, separation, and memory in Afro-Arab communities, specifically of the Yemeni Muwalladeen. For me this body of work is an act of resistance to erasure of Afro-Arab communities. Secrecy is a big part of Arab, Yemeni, and Mixed cultures. In my practice, i work with this limitation, thinking creatively about how to depict my family and myself in ways that honor our privacy and our truths. One way this secrecy shows is through language or codified language. I focused on this aspect of the project during the residency at Chicago Ave Fire Arts Center (CAFAC).
During this residency, i wanted to focus on language and phrases that i heard growing up and create them in neon. And then display phrases from Arabic, Amharic and English side by side. However, after starting the residency and spending some time at CAFAC and realizing how close it was to GFS, i changed the word i wanted to create in neon to pay homage to George Floyd. His murder has shifted global consciousness, conversations and language around blackness.
There will be one final “Hearth to Heart” talk with nouf saleh on Wednesday, September 25th, 5-6:30pm after which there will be an Open (Hot)House event with demos and other fiery activities from 6:30-9pm.
Gallery hours are Wednesday-Friday 9:30am-3:30pm and Saturdays 1-4pm
