NOMA curators will be present to discuss artist Wafaa Bilal’s interactive installation 168:01 in the exhibition Bodies of Knowledge. The work is comprised of a large bookshelf filled with blank, white books which symbolizes the burning and looting of libraries in Baghdad during the 2003 American invasion of Iraq. Museum visitors are invited to transform the shelves from austere white to color by donating a book that will be shipped to the College of Fine Arts at the University of Baghdad at the close of the exhibition. In exchange for a new book (for sale in the Museum Shop) visitors may take home one of the white volumes, which are meant to serve as a reminder that across the globe many people are denied equal access to knowledge.

Writer, curator, and visual artist Kristina Kay Robinson will discuss the connectivity between Iraq and New Orleans and also read from an original piece of nonfiction about Iraq and events of 9-11.

Wednesday admission is free to all Louisiana residents courtesy of The Helis Foundation.

ABOUT KRISTINA KAY ROBINSON

Kristina Kay Robinson is a writer, curator, and visual artist born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. Robinson is the is the co-editor of Mixed Company, a collection of short fiction and visual narratives by women of color. Her writing in various genres has appeared in <em>Guernica, The Baffler, The Nation,</em> and <em>Elle</em> among other publications. She is a 2019 recipient of the Rabkin Prize for Visual Arts Journalism and the current editor of Room 220, an online multidisciplinary arts journal and program of Antenna Gallery in New Orleans.