06/12/2026
Wesaam Al-Badry's splendid The Labor of Belonging exhibit opens at ArtBank today, Friday, June 12, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wesaam will share highlights of his work tomorrow, Saturday, June 13 at 9 a.m. at the Museum of High Plains and with the exhibit at ArtBank at 2 p.m.
Thank you to Museum of Nebraska Art for loaning this breathtaking work to us, and to Buffalo Commons Storytelling & Music Festival for featuring Wesaam in this year's festival. The exhibit will be on display at ArtBank in McCook through August 1, 2026. Not to be missed!
Karissa Johnson, Curator of Museum of Nebraska beautifully curated this exhibit and notes:
"Belonging is a constructed and negotiated social status. To belong, one must find alignment, recognition, and acceptance within a larger group. For some, this is easy. For Wesaam Al-Badry, an immigrant from Nasiriyah, Iraq, finding belonging in Nebraska took effort.
Al-Badry arrived in Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1994 at age eleven after he and his family fled their home at the start of the First Gulf War (1990-1991), also known as Desert Storm. Before relocating to Lincoln, Al-Badry’s family spent four years in a refugee camp in Saudi Arabia, where he first experimented with a camera. Documenting what was happening around him helped him process the experience.
This exhibition includes a selection of nineteen photographs from a project Al-Badry began in 2024 to actively participate in and reflect the vibrant culture of his adopted home. Each portrait offers a glimpse into the complex community of people who call Nebraska home. What has emerged is a collective portrait of Nebraska that is simultaneously familiar, surprising, and unabashedly authentic."
