American Dream: A Visual Poem with Sarah Ahmad

Through her installation, The American Dream, Sarah Ahmad creates an unexpected sanctuary, space where visitors might be moved to seek solace and renewal, to heal from generations of pain and trauma. At the center of her work, Ahmad has constructed a simple canvas tent that she modeled after those that were quickly constructed as an emergency shelter after the 1921 Race Massacre, as well as those that the artist saw while growing up in Lahore, Pakistan. Marigolds cover the structure, their fragrance, and color working together in creating a peaceful idyll, albeit one of the symbolic associations.