Texas A&M exhibit to showcase art on Muslim experience, culture

The Reynolds Gallery in Texas A&M University’s campus, will soon host a new art exhibit that emphasizes acceptance of Muslim students and aims to increase understanding of Islam, Islamic organizations and Islamic art.

 

The Reynolds Gallery in Texas A&M University’s campus, will soon host a new art exhibit that emphasizes acceptance of Muslim students and aims to increase understanding of Islam, Islamic organizations and Islamic art.

“We’re hoping that it will have some educational benefit, introducing many A&M students to a culture that’s really different from [their own.]” said Pratyu Medikonda, a psychology major in her junior year at the university and the gallery director of the MSC Visual Arts Committee.

The Salam exhibition — Arabic for “peace” — will be on display from Jan. 17 to March 3, and will combine art from A&M’s Muslim Students’ Association with work from Sana Mirza, Samia Nazir, Hina Chaudhry and Nizar MacMojia from the Islamic Arts Society of Houston. 

Mary Casillas, student chair of the visual arts committee and a senior biochemistry major, said there would be 15 pieces on display from the Islamic Art Society, 50 printed pictures from student artists and 10 student artwork pieces from the Muslim Students’ Association on display during the two and a half weeks of the exhibit, as well as a wall where students will write the 99 names for Allah in various styles of calligraphy.

The question the gallery seeks to answer, Casillas said, is, “What does it mean to be a Muslim student at Texas A&M University? Whether it’s good, bad or ugly.”

Casillas said the exhibit will show the “many faces of Islamic art” and how it has changed across time, helping non-Muslim students see how their Muslim peers celebrate their own culture and what Salam means to them.