Far from Home
Through July 13, 2008
Free

Visit the Far from Home website

Far from Home includes art that addresses the global displacement of people and populations as they relocate for economic, political, or other reasons. The exhibition features photography, paintings, and sculpture by artists of diverse national and cultural origins.

Far from Home explores the various ways that displacement is manifested in creative expression, suggesting very personal transformations alongside wider group dynamics of belonging and exclusion. Whether focused on the individual or larger community, works here stand in dialogue with the expansion of global networks as people relocate and circumscribe their experiences in new places while maintaining connections to homelands and heritage.

Featured artists include Ghada Amer, José Bedia, Jane Benson, Skunder Boghossian, Tseng Kwong Chi, Achamyelah Debela, Ruud van Empel, Lalla Essaydi, Maria Elena González, Seydou Keïta, Hung Liu, Ledelle Moe, Zwelethu Mthethwa, Vik Muniz, Youssef Nabil, Brigitte NaHoN, Michel Rovner, Sebastião Salgado, Lorna Simpson, and Renée Stout. Organized by the North Carolina Museum of Art.

Youssef Nabil, Will I ever come cgain, self portrait, Havana 2005, 2005, hand-colored gelatin-silver print, 15 2/5 x 10 7/10 in., Courtesy of the artist, © 2005 Youssef Nabil

The rarest jewel of the collection is Richard Pousette-Dart’s ethereal Golden Dawn from 1952. Pousette-Dart insisted that art can reveal “the significant life . . . it uplifts, transforms [life] into the exalted realm of reality wherein its pure contemplative poetic being takes place—wherein art’s transcendental language of form, spirit, harmony means one universal eternal presence.”  That almost prayerful sentiment was shared by the Leslies, whose art collection reflected an unshakable faith in the transformative power of the painted image. Organized by the North Carolina Museum of Art.