This week we welcome Lali Khalid. Khalid is a visual artist living in Ithaca, New York. She received a bachelor’s degree in fine arts in printmaking in 2003 from the National College of Arts in Lahore, Pakistan,and a master’s degree in fine arts in photography from Pratt Institute, New York, in 2009 where she was a Fulbright Scholar. Khalid was born in Pakistan and immigrated to the United States. in 2011. Khalid uses her work as a tool to explore themes of diaspora, identity, family and home in her own life and the lives of the people she photographs. Her images depict and document cultural and private conflicts, as well as emotive effects of natural light through quiet, narrative allusions. She has shown her work in galleries throughout Europe, Pakistan and the U.S. Khalid is currently an assistant professor of media arts, sciences and studies at Ithaca College.
Presented here are photographs from her ongoing series which began in 2017, First Light, The Skylarks Sing
Presented here are photographs from her ongoing series which began in 2017, First Light, The Skylarks Sing
“The portraits in this project are meant to subvert stereotypes and to start a dialogue about changing discriminatory perceptions of immigrant populations.
These photographs portray people in their everyday lives, people who do not want to be outsiders, people who are mothers, who are friends, who are students, who are daughters, who are Muslims.
Theoretically it seems easy to immigrate for various political, social and economic reasons. Immigrants from all over the world make the difficult decision to leave their homes for an alien country, often to escape poverty, oppression and religious persecution, and to make better lives for themselves and their families. But in reality, it is a rough verdict to cut off your roots and start life in a new place.
The personal and social upheaval of immigration is then exacerbated by becoming an outsider in a new land where people are met with stereotypes and discrimination due to their race, religion, culture, etc. perfectly exemplified by the treatment of Muslim-Americans in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks in New York City.”
See more of Khalid’s work on her website and Instagram page.
