Al Mudhif – A Confluence is an outdoor art installation by Sarah Kavage & Yaroub Al-Obaidi and an accompanying gallery exhibition at the Schuylkill Center that explore notions of belonging and healing amidst the current moment of careful reconnection. Al Mudhif provides a welcoming space for intercultural encounters at the Schuylkill Center that equally offers a critical perspective on global migration of plants and people.

24 June – 31 October 2021 Curated by Tina Plokarz

The outdoor guesthouse Al Mudhif at the Schuylkill Center is the first of such structures built outside of Iraq and in North America, and its construction creates a sanctuary for belonging and healing across cultures. Mudhifs date back more than 5,000 years to the Sumerian civilization of southern Mesopotamia. Used for town gatherings and ceremonies, they are one of the oldest known monumental building types designed with nature at their heart.

The installation Al Mudhif is accompanied by a communal exhibition in the Visitor Center reflecting on belonging and sanctuary. Through the lenses of creative voices of art and activism, war experience, and indigenous resilience from Iraq to the Delaware River watershed, the exhibition offers a place for reconciliation across cultures and countries. The exhibition features artworks by Drew Cameron of Combat Paper, Meridel Rubenstein, art collective Justseeds, Tailinh Agoyo, Tchin; audio recordings by U.S. veterans, Iraqis, and Native Americans reflecting on war and sanctuary (including Moral Injury of War project); and documentary photography by Rob Zverina, Sarah Kavage, and Raad Habeeb Al Asadi, and other participants during Al Mudhif’s construction.