“Musings” will be on view in the Watson Galleries on W&L’s campus from Sept. 28 to June 1.
Khalil will join W&L in celebrating the exhibition’s opening on Thursday, Sept. 28, with an artist talk in northen auditorium at 5:30 p.m. followed by a reception in the Watson Galleries.
All are welcome and encouraged to attend.
The exhibition was co-curated by four undergraduate students as part of the university’s spring term 2023 course Seminar in Museum Studies, taught by director of Museums Isra El-beshir. The students, Annabel Symington ’25, Annie Zajicek ’24, Hailey Neaman ’25, and Aislinn Niimi ’24, helped lay the curatorial foundation of the exhibition through direct engagement with Khalil.
“Having the privilege to continue the work of the seminar and help ‘Musings’ come to fruition has truly been a gratifying experience,” said Neaman, who continued working with the museums as their curatorial intern over the summer. “After spending so much time researching Khalil and studying his work, meeting him felt like meeting a celebrity. Working with the museums team has given me so much insight into exhibition planning and I can’t wait for the W&L community to experience Khalil’s work.”
Khalil’s prints explore the tonality of light and darkness, and combine and layer several techniques, including etching, aquatint, sugar lift, spit bite and photo transfer. These “musings” are often products of long periods of reflection, commemorating the things, people and places that have inspired him.
“It has been a real privilege to work with the caliber of artist like Mohammad Omer Khalil,” said Patricia Hobbs, senior curator of art at the museums. “For me, his prints are especially compelling — his bold yet sensitive command of acid and inks. To bring these works together in an exhibition at the museums has been exciting and is a major coup for W&L.”
For more information, visit https://www.wlu.edu/arts/museums/visit/exhibitions/upcoming-exhibits/mohammad-omer-khalil-musings/.
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Crystal Graham
