Sahar Khoury, Resident Artist Lecture 2026

Sahar Khoury gives a lecture talking about her interdisciplinary practice which spans sound, drawing, video, sculpture, and installation. Khoury shares archival tapes and recordings of her family which she uses as raw material for her practice. Khoury talks about her interest in the collective versus the individual, and about her use of an anthropological lens to understand her context. She sees this lens shaped not just by family and upbringing, but also by environment in its entirety. Khoury goes on to discuss how she became an artist through community and queer culture, rather than pursuing a formal arts education. Khoury talks about the process of mixing high and low culture, the relationship between kitsch and craft, and use of everyday materials and found objects, all described as important aspects of her work. Khoury discusses her current work, going into themes of collective mourning and denial as a political tool. Khoury also discusses work with institutions, encouraging the participants not to decline exhibition opportunities, and to show their work as much as possible as a way to change peoples’ consciousness. Khoury’s lecture ends with a frank conversation with the participants about the economic challenges and realities of being an artist, and gives advice on how to build a stable life as artists.