Beyond East and West: Seven Transnational Artists

2/12/05 - 5/15/05

Ghada Amer, Shahzia Sikander, Mona Hatoum, Y. Z. Kami, Jananne Al-Ani, Walid Raad, and Michal Rovner

David O’Brien and David Prochaska

Organized by the Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The exhibition features the work of major contemporary artists Ghada Amer (b. Cairo, Egypt, 1963), Shahzia Sikander (b. Lahore, Pakistan, 1969), Mona Hatoum (b. Beirut, Lebanon, 1952), Y. Z. Kami (b. Tehran, Iran, 1956), Jananne Al-Ani (b. Kirkuk, Iraq, 1966), Walid Raad (b. Chbanieh, Lebanon, 1967), and Michal Rovner (b. Tel Aviv, Israel, 1957). Hailing from the region stretching from Egypt to Pakistan, the artists have come together in one exhibition to reveal a new kind of intercultural understanding through art. They share a connection to both their homelands in the “East” and the places in the “West” where they primarily live and work. Their lives and their art traverse boundaries between these two worlds, dismantling stereotypes and seeking to broaden perceptions on both sides of the global divide.

According to Holly Edwards, Lecturer in Art at Williams College, “All seven of the artists in this exhibition create images that resonate with multiple traditions, reflecting the fracturings and graftings of global visual culture. Image-making for all of them is a process of self-definition in a complex world.”

The exhibition is accompanied by an illustrated, full-color catalogue featuring essays by co-curators David O’Brien and David Prochaska and excerpts from conversations with the artists. The catalogue is available through the Museum Shop: (413) 597-3233.