Muslims of North America: Michigan is an important part of a larger photographic research project by Detroit and Chicago based Artist Nour Ballout.  This project funded by the Michigan Arts and Cultural Council focuses on representation of trans and non-binary Muslims as a way to illuminate these important and timely issues dealing with race, gender, religion and identity in the 21^st century.     A series of photographs will be produced and exhibited at Wayne State University September 7-October 1, 2023. 

Located in Quiet Room near Auditorium.  All are welcome to attend.

About Nour Ballout:

Nour Ballout (b. 1993, Beirut) is an interdisciplinary artist and curator. They received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Wayne State University and an MFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC).  Nour’s work as a visual artist and curator is rooted in a social practice exploring structures of naturalization as they manifest within bodies, built environments, and communities. Photographic self-portraiture, collaboration, and space making intersect in the interpretation and dissemination of their experience coming home to their body and the world as a trans-masculine queer immigrant. By reconsidering the right to look; they renegotiate the contract between photographer, sitter and viewer, here the paradoxes of representation, access, and privacy collide.

Nour is the founder of Habibi House, a neighborhood-based community art space and social engagement residency in Detroit, as well as the annual Book + Print Fest at The Arab American National Museum (AANM). They are the recipient of the 2019 Knight Arts Challenge Award, the 2019 Kresge Arts in Detroit Gilda Award, and the 2019 Applebaum Photography Fellowship. Nour has exhibited their work across the United States and participated in several artist residencies including the Ghana Think Tank in Detroit and Flux Factory in New York.