Fabric of the Community

Exhibition by Taissir Abdelgadir Salim
On view August 8–29
PS1 Northside Gallery

“Fabric of the Community” explores the experiences of migrants and refugees within the local community of the city of Iowa. The project focuses on how migrants engage with, contribute to, and integrate into the social and cultural fabric of their host community, using visual art as a medium for expression, dialogue, and mutual understanding.

This exhibition is the culmination of a batik workshop led by artist Taissir Abdelgadir Salim on July 29 & 30 at Public Space One. The workshop invited members of the local community, particularly migrants and refugees, to participate in a collective creative process focused on expressing identity, diversity, and belonging. Participants were encouraged to translate their personal experiences and interactions with the community into visual artworks, fostering artistic empowerment and meaningful exchange.

The diversity of materials and techniques represented in the exhibition mirrors the multiplicity of cultural backgrounds and lived experiences represented in the project, symbolically reflecting the rich social fabric of Iowa’s community. At its core, the project examines themes of migration, identity, belonging, and cultural interaction. Through a diverse collection of visual artworks produced using multiple materials and techniques, the exhibition highlights the human dimensions of migration and the reciprocal influence between migrants and the Iowa community. The artworks aim to reflect personal narratives, shared experiences, and collective values that shape a diverse yet interconnected society.

About the Artist:

Taissir Abdelgadir Salim is a Sudanese visual artist living in Iowa City. Taissir is 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.