BOULDER, CO (June 6, 2008) - The Dairy Center for the Arts presents The Veil: Visible and Invisible Spaces, a traveling art exhibition, curated by Jennifer Heath, in the McMahon Gallery from May 16 to June 20. From Boulder, Colorado, the exhibition will travel to the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville, where it will be on display from September 10 to October 24 and feature various related programming, including a talk by scholar and novelist Mohja Kahf. The Veil: Visible and Invisible Spaces will close its 2008 calendar at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where it will show from November 13 to December 12. The exhibition will continue traveling for five years throughout the United States.

The Veil: Visible and Invisible Spaces is an exhibition of the work of twenty-nine artists including videographers, filmmakers and new media artists, as well as painters, sculptors, performance and installation artists. Each considers and re-visions the veil in its many manifestations and interpretations and puts veils and veiling into context. The exhibit intends to engage received wisdom – particularly current clichés and stereotypes about Islamic practices – and to reflect on the great ubiquity, importance and profundity of the veil throughout human history and imagination.

The artists include: Sama Alshaibi, Tulu Bayar, Tiffany Besonen, Elizabeth Bisbing, Christine Breslin, Jo-Ann Brody, Fatma Charfi, Juliet Davis, Rebecca DiDomenico, Yassi Golshani, Ana Maria Hernando, Valari Jack, Tsehai Johnson, Tania Kamal-Eldin, Deb King, Mary Kite, Shakuntala Kulkarni, Anita Kunz, Judith Selby Lang, Victoria May, Aphrodite Desiree Navab, Brenda Oelbaum, Sara Rahbar, Larissa Sansour, Mary Tuma, Kim Turos, Kerry Vander Meer, Arien Valizadeh, Eve Whittaker, Sherry Wiggins and Helen Zughaib. In addition, Visible and Invisible Spaces features the 23-artist portfolio in book form, Re-Interpreting the Middle East: Beyond Historical Stereotype, curated by May Hariri Aboutaam, which grounds the show and acts as a kind of cultural ballast.

Visible and Invisible Spaces is a visual companion to Jennifer Heath’s edited volume, The Veil: Women Writers on Its History, Lore, and Politics (University of California Press). This groundbreaking volume, written entirely by women, examines the vastly misunderstood and multilayered world of the veil. Veiling– of women, of men, and of sacred places and objects–has existed in countless cultures and religions from time immemorial. Today, veiling is a globally polarizing issue, a locus for the struggle between Islam and the West and between contemporary and traditional interpretations of Islam. But veiling was a practice long before Islam and still extends far beyond the Middle East. This book explores and examines the cultures, politics, and histories of veiling. Twenty-one gifted writers and scholars, representing a wide range of societies, religions, ages, locations, races, and accomplishments, here elucidate, challenge, and/or praise the practice. For further information, contact University of California Press, Heather Vaughan publicist Heather.Vaughan@ucpress.edu.

A calendar of events with the exhibition schedule is available on www.theveilbook.com. Please contact Jennifer Heath for additional photographs at HeathCollom@comcast.net.

The Veil: Visible & Invisible Spaces is funded in part by Boulder Arts Commission, the Puffin Foundation, Ltd., and Firyal Alsalabi.

The Dairy Center is located at 2590 Walnut Street, Boulder, Colorado 80302 USA, 440-7826, www.thedairy.org