My People is a two-part mural completed on site at the Shangri La Museum of Islamic Art, Culture & Design by artist-in-residence Bahia Shehab during her August 2018 residency. “My People” speaks to how Shangri La can be an intersection of cultural aesthetics and a place to explore political concerns across indigenous contexts.
My People
This two-part mural represents a verse from a work by Palestinian poet, Mahmoud Darwish (1941-2008). A poem originally written in Arabic, Shehab has interpreted the title and content of the text as a challenge to power—The Penultimate Address of the “Red Indian" in Front of the White Man (1992)—and selected this evocative phrase for her piece: “My people will return as air and light and water.”
Bahia ShehabShangri La Museum of Islamic Art, Culture & Design
The mural uses an artist-created script that has both pixelated and added figurative roots to 10th-century floriated Kufic calligraphy to make a site-specific commentary about colonization, displacement, and loss – of land, people, and identity.
My People speaks to how Shangri La is the intersection of cultural aesthetics and a place to explore political concerns across indigenous contexts.
Shehab’s inventive and energetic interpretation of Arabic epigraphy richly illustrates the ways that art can be a space for marginalized voices.
Bahia ShehabShangri La Museum of Islamic Art, Culture & Design
Bahia's opening reception for "My People" at Shangri La
Bahia Shehab was an artist-in-residence at Shangri La from August 9 to August 22, 2018. Her work was also exhibited in the Arts of Islamic World Gallery at the Honolulu Museum of Art.
Shangri La Museum of Islamic Art, Culture & Design
Honolulu, Hawai'i
Shangri La is a museum for learning about the global culture of Islamic art and design through exhibitions, digital and educational initiatives, public tours and programs, and community partnerships.
Shangri La Museum of Islamic Art, Culture & Design is a program of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation through the Doris Duke Foundation For Islamic Art.
