with Taissir Abdelgadir Salim
Thursday July 29 and Friday July 30, 6-8:30pm
outdoors at PS1 North (225/229 N Gilbert St)
Join artist Taissir Abdelgadir Salim for a two-day batik workshop, which leads up to and forms a central component of the upcoming exhibition at PS1 Northside, Fabric of the Community. This workshop invites members of the local community—particularly migrants and refugees—in a collective creative process focused on expressing identity, diversity, and belonging. Participants will be encouraged to translate their personal experiences and interactions with the community into visual artworks, fostering artistic empowerment and meaningful exchange. The workshop will culminate in a collective exhibition showcasing the participants’ works.
Registration for this free workshop is limited to 15 participants. Register below to reserve your spot.
About the teaching artist:
Taissir Abdelgadir Salim is a Sudanese visual artist living in Iowa City concerned with issues of art and identity, migration, and social interaction. She uses art as a means of expression and community dialogue, and through her work seeks to create social, cultural, and human impact within the community of the city of Iowa.
My artistic work seeks to portray the life of the African woman, and more specifically the Sudanese woman. Through my work, I express the struggles of the African woman in her long journey toward freedom, as well as her position amid political, social, and environmental transformations. I am keen to use materials that give special recognition to the African woman’s struggle, particularly batik fabric, which is considered part of the artistic heritage of African women.
For centuries, batik fabric has maintained its status as a primary medium for expressing the African woman’s struggle. This fabric also signifies an individual’s environment and undoubtedly carries within it reflections of culture, identity, and heritage.
In my work, the woman represents a steadfast anchor from which all environmental and social transformations emerge; she is the driving force toward broader and better horizons for humanity.