Dr. Halide Salam continues a 40-year focus on the intersections between the biological, the ecological, and the spiritual in art, leading her into an increasingly deeper understanding for her own position within her practice. This exhibition will include recent paintings from Salam’s new series of paintings (TransPlace, TransLight, and TransMigration), within which she explores her own personal growth as a Muslim immigrant in modern America. A central focus for Dr. Salam is a poem by the 13-century Sufi poet Rumi:
I died as a mineral and became a plant,
I died as plant and rose to animal,
I died as animal and I was Man.
What should I fear?
When was I less by dying?
Dr. Halide Salam was born in West Bengal, India, but spent much of her early life in East Pakistan. She began her studies in Chattogram, Bangladesh, but migrated to the United States in 1971 at the insistence of her parents. She received her MA in Painting from New Mexico Highlands University and continued on to earn her Ph.D. in Fine Arts from Texas Tech University. She later studied Sacred Geometry and Sacred Art Traditions at the Royal College of Art, London. In 2020, Dr. Salam retired as a Professor of Art from Radford University after 40 years of teaching. She lives and works in Blacksburg, VA.
During this reception, Director of Galleries Adam Justice will moderate a conversation between Dr. Salam and Dr. Hadia Mubarak, Professor of Religion at Queens University of Charlotte.