The Halal Metrop­o­lis exhi­bi­tion, by artist Osman Khan, pho­tog­ra­pher Razi Jafri, and his­to­rian Sally How­ell, explores the facts, fic­tions, and imag­i­nar­ies of the Mus­lim population(s) in Detroit and South­east Michi­gan as viewed through his­tor­i­cal research, doc­u­men­ta­tion of cur­rent con­di­tions, and explo­rations of future desires. The Halal Metrop­o­lis alludes to the estab­lished and grow­ing Mus­lim pop­u­la­tion in Detroit and its metro area, one of the largest and most diverse Mus­lim pop­u­la­tions in the U.S., whose vis­i­bil­ity is both pro­nounced and extremely present in the city, yet whose nar­ra­tive seems unusu­ally silent in the larger Detroit story. The exhi­bi­tion blends archival mate­ri­als, social and polit­i­cal arti­facts, pho­tog­ra­phy, and art to explore the con­gru­ent and con­tra­dict­ing ideas, aes­thet­ics, and cul­tures work­ing to make the halal metrop­o­lis both a real and imag­i­nary entity.

Fea­tur­ing works by:

Amna Asghar
Qais Assali
BGIRL MAMA
Nour Ball­out
Adnan Charara
Kecia Escoe
Parisa Ghaderi
Anthony Keith Giannini
Razi Jafri
Osman Khan
Maamoul Press
Endi Poskovic
Haleem ​‘Stringz’ Rasul
Reem Taki

This exhi­bi­tion is pre­sented in part­ner­ship with the Uni­ver­sity of Michigan-Dearborn’s Cen­ter for Arab Amer­i­can Stud­ies (CAAS), with sup­port from the Knight Foun­da­tion, the Doris Duke Foun­da­tion, the Andy Warhol Foun­da­tion for the Visual Arts, the El-Hibri Foun­da­tion, the Com­mu­nity Foun­da­tion of SE Michi­gan, and the Michi­gan Human­i­ties Council.