hangri La hosts invited artists-in-residence whose work complements the collection while also advancing the study and understanding of Islamic art and culture. Selected artists pursue their own creative work and also present public programs, such as lectures, workshops and performances.
2012 Artists-in-Residence
Omar Mullick, March 18-April 1, 2012
Award-winning photographer and filmmaker Omar Mullick was born and raised in London, and studied politics, philosophy and economics at the Univeristy of Pennsylvania. Mullick's work searches out a new perspective on cultures and conflicts that are reduced often to socio-political categories alone. Currently based in New York, his photographic work has appeared in the New York Times, Foreign Policy Magazine and National Geographic. He has received fellowships and awards from the M100 Foundation, the Western Knight Center for Journalism, and Annenberg and recognition from the American Academy of Religion. Recently, he was part of Basetrack, a project that embedded journalist and photographers with Marines in Helmand, Afghanistan for a year and transmitted the work back to traditional media and social networks. In 2009 he presented Can't Take It With You, a solo exhibition of work exploring the lives of Muslims in North America at the Gallery FCB, New York. His film work on Pakistani humanitarian Abdul Sattar Edhi received a Sundance Institute Documentary grant in 2011. As Artist-in-Residence at Shangri La from March 18-April 1, Mullick will present See No Evil: An Evening with Omar Mullick, an illustrated talk on his work with digital film and new media to challenge the standard frames of reference when dealing with Muslim culture domestically and abroad.
Past Artists-in-Residence
Emre Hüner, August 11-30, 2011
Born in Istanbul, Turkey, Emre Hüner will be a visual artist in residence at Shangri La in partnership with the University of Hawaii Department of Art and Art History. Hüner works across a wide range of media, including drawing, painting, video, photography, animation and site-specific installations. He weaves together imagery drawn from diverse sources, including found films and photographs as well as archival material, to create narratives that explore man's relationship to the natural and built environment, the history of technology and theories of modernity. Hüner has exhibited internationally and his works were included in the New Museum's exhibition Younger than Jesus in 2008 and in Princeton's Nobody's Property: Land, Space, Territory, 2000-2010. He was selected as Princeton's first Elson artist in residence in 2010 and is currently based at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam. During his residency at Shangri La he will develop ideas for a new body of work and conduct studio visits with University of Hawaii graduate students. Hüner will present a free public lecture on his work at the University of Hawaii Art Auditorium on Wednesday, August 24 at 6:00p.m. He will also present a free public screening of his video works at thirtyninehotel on Thursday, August 25 at 6:00p.m.
Zakariya Amataya, June 17- July 7, 2011
During his residency, Bangkok-based Thai poet Zakariya Amataya is working on new poetry and his first novel. Amataya is the 2010 winner of the prestigious Southeast Asia Writers Award. He is the first poetry winner who writes primarily in free verse and is Thailand's first Muslim recipient. He has published compilations of work including, Mai Mee Yingsao Nai Bot Kavi (Poems without Maidens) and Will My Playground Have a Bomb? Amataya studied Arabic language, literature and Islam at Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama in Lucknow, India and is now completing an M.A. in comparative religion at Mahidol University in Bangkok. He translates Middle Eastern and Western poetry for Thai literary publications and is working on his first novel.
Afruz Amighi, November 1-14, 2010
Afruz Amighi serves as a Shangri La visual artist-in-residence in partnership with University of Hawaii Department of Art and Art History. During her residency she will begin a new body of work experimenting with subject matter related to her research at Shangri La and the collections. She will present a public lecture at the University of Hawaii on November 10 at 6pm. As part of the residency, she will advise graduate students from the university’s art department. Amighi was born in Tehran and currently lives and works in New York. She has exhibited her work internationally and in 2008 was awarded the Jameel Prize by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Her work explores the social and political history of Iran with references to traditional Islamic art.
Walid Raad, October 1-25, 2009
Walid Raad is a versatile artist whose work includes textual analysis, video, and photography projects, concentrating on the Lebanese civil wars, the Arab-Israeli conflicts, and documentary theory and practice. Raad was born in Chbanieh, Lebanon and now divides his time between Beirut and New York, where he is Associate Professor of Art at the Cooper Union. In addition to numerous individual and group shows at major venues throughout Europe, the Middle East, and North America Raad’s works have been included in Documenta 11 (Kassel, Germany), Art Basel (Switzerland), and the Venice Biennale (Italy). Raad was the winner of the 2007 Alpert Award for Visual Arts from the Herb Alpert Foundation. He is also a member of the Arab Image Foundation, started in 1996 to promote historical research of the visual culture of the Arab world, and to promote experimental video production in the region. Raad will present a free public lecture at the University of Hawaii on October 21, 2009 at 6pm.
Shahzia Sikander, November 14-30, 2008
Shahzia Sikander's art responds to the tradition of Indo-Persian miniature painting with wit, irony, and paradox. She was originally trained in the genre in Lahore, Pakistan and has had recent solo exhibitions at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, 2007, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney Australia (2007-08) and at Ikon Gallery in Birmingham, UK, 2008. Her 2004 exhibition at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum was partially supported by a grant from the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art. As a result of the grant, Sikander is interested in exploring the material legacy of Doris Duke's Shangri La during her residency. She will present a free public lecture at the University of Hawaii on November 19, 2008 at 6pm.
Mohamed Zakariya, September 7-28, 2005
Mohamed Zakariya is an Islamic calligrapher, artist and maker of custom instruments from the history of science. Born in California, he began the study of Islamic calligraphy in Tangier and London in 1964. In 1984, he was invited by the Research Center for Islamic History, Art and Culture in Istanbul to study with the celebrated Turkish calligraphers Hasan Celebi and Ali Alparslan. He holds prized diplomas in sûlûs-nesih and ta’lik scripts. His work has been exhibited in museums and galleries throughout the world and he is well-known for his lectures and workshops. While in residence, Zakariya anticipates that the environment at Shangri La and Hawaii will inspire his calligraphic sketching, resulting in new work and new ideas. He will present a free public lecture and a calligraphy lesson at the Honolulu Academy of Arts.