Philadelphia’s Museum for Art in Wood unveils the Mashrabiya Project

On March 3, the Museum for Art in Wood in Philadelphia unveiled The Mashrabiya Project, an international exhibition with interactive programming, a shared-making experience, and publication. It explores the significance of the wood-turned mashrabiya, particularly that of wood-turned latticework found in Cairo, Egypt. It will run through July 23.

Curated by the museum’s executive director and chief curator Jennifer-Navva Milliken, the multi-disciplinary exhibition will be the first effort in the U.S. to examine this architectural object and its prominence in Islamic and Egyptian woodcraft while highlighting its greater cultural significance. It features commissioned, never-before-seen works from six international artists and includes hybrid programming to encourage further public engagement and discussion, according to a statement from the museum.

“The translation of object into concept, realized in the work of these six international artists, reminds us that craft objects are not created in a vacuum, they evolve within a society as a reflection of the values and laws that define it,” Milliken said.

For more, visit museumforartinwood.org. 

This article was originally published in the April 2023 issue.