Hyde Park Art Center to Present Solo Exhibition of Kuwait-Iraqi Artist Farah Salem

Hyde Park Art Center, the renowned non-profit hub for contemporary art located on Chicago’s vibrant South Side, has announced a solo exhibition and related public programming by interdisciplinary Kuwaiti-Iraqi artist and art therapist Farah Salem. Salem’s multi-disciplinary practice highlights affinities between healing rituals from the Arabian Peninsula, geologic time, embodied movement, gendered trauma, ceremonial music and dance. 

The exhibition presents new and existing works across media that continue the artist’s study and artistic reinterpretation of healing and ceremonial migratory practices of people of the Arabian Peninsula who seek to repair one’s relationship with oneself, the earth, and other beings. In Farah’s work, images of landscape and the body merge, tracing affinities between geologic time, somatic movement, ancestral knowledge, and ceremonial rituals. In her performance and video works, movement manifests as an embodiment of agency through which she explores ways to reimagine traditional practices to address trauma, the marginalization of women and immigrant people, and the climate crisis today. 

A free public performance Spirited-Sound Making: Activating Reconstructed Sculptural Instruments will take place on Thursday May 22, 6 p.m. In this performance, Farah will collaborate with Ronnie Malley, +Aziz, and Jordan Knecht to present an experimental performance that reimagines the rhythms of healing musical ceremonies, as participants navigate the wounds of diasporic experiences together. The performance centers on an installation of a reconstructed Tanbura (East African Lyre), a central instrument in healing ceremonies. Along with other reconstructed instruments in the exhibition, Soundscapes produced in the performance bring audiences the experience of a nervous system regulating after disruption, mirroring this occurrence in traditional ceremonies in the Arabian Peninsula.

The title of the exhibition references the belief of people throughout the Arabian Peninsula, who are taught to live in respectful relationship with spirits that live beneath the earth called “ahl al ‘arth,” (people of the earth). Farah grew up aware of regular interactions with these spirits. Her mother and grandmothers explained that while some spirits are peaceful, others are upset when disrespected and could retaliate. As a result, Farah learned about ways of moving through the world mindfully so as to not disturb spirits at rest. The knowledge that, “[she doesn’t] exist alone, but rather in relationship with plants, rocks, animals, and unseen forces” drives her artistic practice.

The artist was a Radicle Studio Resident at Hyde Park Art Center in 2021. The body of work presented in this exhibition was started during her residency and has expanded since. This exhibition is curated by Mariela Acuña, Director of Exhibitions and Residency at Hyde Park Art Center.

Farah Salem’s studio practice is rooted in photography, expanding through video, performance, fiber-materials, and installation. Her origins in photography influence the ways she uses materials to sensorily embody concepts she grapples with. In her studio practice, through relational merging and mapping of human and geological bodies, she visions their liberation. By doing so, she examines themes of agency, making the invisible visible, and potential erosion of socio-cultural conditioning distorting our shared realities. Her visual arts and somatic-centered art therapy practices are independent. However, they intersect in her professional training, informing her artistic exploration of how trauma manifests in the body. 

Salem holds an MA in Art Therapy and Counseling from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her artwork has been featured nationally and internationally at Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Photography (Chicago), EXPO CHICAGO, American University Museum (Washington DC), United Photo Industries/Photoville Gallery (New York), and Contemporary Art Platform (Kuwait), among other notable institutions. She completed the Radicle Studio Residency at Hyde Park Art Center, Hatch Residency at Chicago Artist Coalition, ACRE Artist Residency, Per|Form at Contemporary Art Platform (Kuwait) and Journey to Turkey Residency with Crossway Foundation (UK). She is a recipient of the 2024 3Arts Award, and is the 2017 Laureate Winner: International Women Photographers Award.

Farah Salem: Uninhibited People of the Earth will take place in the Kanter Family Foundation Gallery at the Art Center from March 15 – July 20, 2025. Admission is free and open to the public, and the Art Center welcomes walk-ins.