The City of Marquette Arts and Culture Center announces its September LSAA Gallery exhibition: “Home. In my heart, beating so far away” by Lali Khalid. Growing up in Pakistan, Lali’s father introduced her to photography at a young age. Her work wanders between themes in landscape, abstraction and documentary photography, but has always centered itself on portraiture. She uses her work as a tool to explore themes of diaspora, identity, family and home in her own life and the lives of people she photographs. Khalid invites you to see her images in this exhibition without a predetermined perception. You will get glimpses of a continually evolving narrative, but the images do not give away the full account - “It is on you to find the veiled stories.”

The exhibit will be displayed from September 1-29 with an artist reception on Thursday, Sept. 7 from 6-8 p.m. The public is invited to attend and light refreshments will be provided.

The City of Marquette Arts and Culture Center is in the lower level of the Peter White Public Library. For more information or questions, please contact (906) 228-0472 or email arts-culture@mqtcty.org.

Artist Statement:

Home. In my heart, beating so far away.
"Immigrants everywhere leave their lives behind, forever. I did the same. I left because I did not want to not be labeled and stereotyped. How ironic to have moved to U.S chasing that freedom and actually lose it? The things that I ran away from, are the things that define me now. My identity is reduced to a fixed clichéd image. I left behind my home, full of love, even with all its flaws. I am not here, and not there. Like a pendulum, I swing, constantly looking back. Searching, for a life that was and a life that will be, searching for the
unknowable. I am continually shifting, finding new ways of negotiating my identity, of understanding the changing ideologies and new perspectives.

When meeting somebody for the first time, the brain goes into overdrive for a few seconds to swiftly form a first impression. Whether we like it or not, rapid assumptions are made based on gender, race, religion, age, culture, physical appearance, the surrounding environment - all things that help form who we are, real or perceived. When people meet me for the first time, they tend to assume, and they assume wrong.

I invite you, to see these images without a predetermined perception. You will get glimpses of a continually evolving narrative but the images don’t give away the full account. How could they? It is on you to find the veiled stories."