In Close to Home, my solo exhibition at the Queens Museum (on view until January 19th, 2025), the dining wall installation serves as a central piece—a tapestry of personal and collective history. This installation bridges intimate family moments with the broader legacies of figures like Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, and the unsung jazz great Lynn Hope.
The story it tells is not just about my family but also about the global connections that shape the Black and Muslim experience. Inspired by archival materials from the 1964–1965 World’s Fair, the work captures the vibrant representation of Afro-Arab Muslim identities at a pivotal historical moment. For the first time in my practice, I designed custom wallpaper featuring lotus flowers—a symbol of creation and rebirth—that ties these stories together, celebrating independence, community, and cultural preservation.
Layers of Identity: A Child of the Caribbean, Black Internationalism, and Malcolm X
As a child of Caribbean immigrants from Trinidad and Guyana, my identity is deeply rooted in the experiences of the Black diaspora. Growing up in Brooklyn, I lived at the intersection of cultures, where Caribbean traditions blended seamlessly with the rhythms of the American experience. This duality shaped my understanding of identity and the importance of preserving cultural heritage.
In Close to Home, this connection to the Black diaspora extends beyond my personal story. It explores broader themes of Black internationalism, a framework championed by figures like Malcolm X, who saw the struggles for liberation in the U.S., Africa, and the Caribbean as interconnected. Malcolm X’s legacy resonates deeply in my work, not only as an icon of Afro-Arab Muslim identity but also as a leader who emphasized the global nature of Black resistance and solidarity.
The dining wall installation reflects these layered histories. It weaves together stories of migration, resilience, and independence, linking my mother’s return to Guyana with the vibrant cultural exchanges of the 1964–1965 World’s Fair. Through archival materials, this piece captures the essence of Black internationalism: a shared struggle for self-determination and a celebration of the rich, interconnected identities within the Black diaspora.
Layers of Identity: The Nubian Connection
As a dark-skinned Black and Muslim woman, my visibility often connects me to rich narratives that span continents. In Egypt, I’ve been frequently identified as Nubian or Sudanese, an association that complements the ways Black American culture has embraced the term “Nubian” to celebrate beauty, dignity, and heritage. This resonance between my physical presence and cultural history underscores how identity and perception travel through shared, global lineages. You can read more about how my experience in Egypt helped me shape Close to Home into the experience that it is today on Queens Chronicle’s feature of the exhibition “Getting “Close to Home” at Queens Museum”
This duality—how we see ourselves and how others see us—is a recurring theme in my work. It’s one of the many threads woven into Close to Home, inviting reflection on the intersections of personal experience and collective memory.
The Archive and My Artistic Practice
Archival material has always been central to my practice. As I shared in my blog post, “The Archive Tells a Different Story” on September 22, 2022, archives allow me to challenge dominant narratives and bring forth stories that might otherwise be overlooked. Growing up, I realized the silences in mainstream narratives about people like us—Black, Muslim, and Caribbean. Through my art, I began creating archives of my own community, revealing stories that are often untold or distorted.
The dining wall installation, for example, brings archival materials alive, repositioning them within our current context to spark reflection. Archives, while powerful, are inherently abstract—they are fragments of the past that ignite curiosity and imagination. My work invites viewers to consider not only what is included in these narratives but also what is left out.
Step Inside Close to Home
I invite you to visit Close to Home and explore these stories firsthand. This exhibition offers a reflection on the meaning of “home,” blending personal narrative with global identity and shared history. As I share more behind-the-scenes glimpses into the creative process this month, I hope you’ll join me in imagining new possibilities for preserving and celebrating our collective heritage.
Plan your visit to Close to Home at the Queens Museum before it closes on January 19th, 2025.