Presented By: Institute for the Humanities
Gallery Tour & Bird Walk at Nichols Arboretum
Join the Institute for the Humanities and LSA Sustainability for a curator-led (Amanda Krugliak) Gallery tour of Sheida Soleimani’s exhibition Flyways (10 AM - 10:30 AM), followed by a quick bus ride over to Nichols Arboretum for a bird walk (10:45 AM - 11:30 AM). Event attendees will have the opportunity to explore Soleimani’s photography in the Institute for the Humanities Gallery and/or to go on a bird-watching tour at the Arb. For either portion of the event, please meet at the Institute for the Humanities at 202 South Thayer.
Sheida Soleimani is an artist, educator, and licensed wildlife rehabilitator whose work examines power, environmental crisis, queerness, migration, and care. The daughter of political refugees who escaped Iran in the early 1980s, Soleimani draws on archival materials, props, and sculptural elements to create visually lush, politically incisive tableaux. She works across various mediums, investigating themes such as oil politics and human rights abuses, confronting the systems of violence linking the SWANA region and the United States, unraveling their implications in American culture. Though her images are dreamlike, they are grounded in lived experience: her parents frequently appear as subjects, in compositions made from elements of their (sometimes harrowing) tales. Increasingly, wildlife enters the frame – injured and orphaned birds, with their own quiet stories of migration and survival. Before the lens, these animals encapsulate Soleimani's multifaceted practice: care as art, storytelling as resistance.
The bird walk will be led by members of the Michigan Bird Club. This will serve as training for volunteers interested in helping collect data for an ongoing migratory bird safety project and as well as an opportunity to get familiar with local campus birds.
Donuts, hot chocolate, and hot tea will be available while supplies last.
If you cannot make this event but are interested in viewing Soleimani’s exhibition, you can visit the Gallery anytime Monday through Friday from 9AM to 5PM, March 19th - May 1st, 2026.
Sheida Soleimani is an artist, educator, and licensed wildlife rehabilitator whose work examines power, environmental crisis, queerness, migration, and care. The daughter of political refugees who escaped Iran in the early 1980s, Soleimani draws on archival materials, props, and sculptural elements to create visually lush, politically incisive tableaux. She works across various mediums, investigating themes such as oil politics and human rights abuses, confronting the systems of violence linking the SWANA region and the United States, unraveling their implications in American culture. Though her images are dreamlike, they are grounded in lived experience: her parents frequently appear as subjects, in compositions made from elements of their (sometimes harrowing) tales. Increasingly, wildlife enters the frame – injured and orphaned birds, with their own quiet stories of migration and survival. Before the lens, these animals encapsulate Soleimani's multifaceted practice: care as art, storytelling as resistance.
The bird walk will be led by members of the Michigan Bird Club. This will serve as training for volunteers interested in helping collect data for an ongoing migratory bird safety project and as well as an opportunity to get familiar with local campus birds.
Donuts, hot chocolate, and hot tea will be available while supplies last.
If you cannot make this event but are interested in viewing Soleimani’s exhibition, you can visit the Gallery anytime Monday through Friday from 9AM to 5PM, March 19th - May 1st, 2026.
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