Ifrah Mansour is a Somali, refugee, Muslim, self-taught multimedia artist and an educator based in Minnesota. Her artwork explores trauma through the eyes of children to uncover the resiliencies of blacks, Muslims, and refugees. She interweaves poetry, puppetry, films, and installations. She's been featured in Middle East Eye, BBC, VICE, OkayAfrica, Star Tribune, and City Pages. Her critically acclaimed How to Have Fun in a Civil War premiered at Guthrie Theatre and toured to cities in Greater Minnesota. Her first national museum exhibition, Can I Touch It!? premiered at Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Her visual poem, I am a Refugee, is part of PBS’s short Film festival. Mansour’s installation, My Aqal, Banned and Blessed premiered at Queens Museum in New York. Learn More: facebook.com/ifrahmansourart
Fellowship Statement
My artwork is informed by my lived experience, and that of my community of Muslim, refugee, black, and Somali immigrants. I create art out of my most painful experiences to connect communities, spark conversation, and create meaningful relationships between refugees and Americans. As a refugee, I didn’t see my story represented on stage or in cinema. Now, I am a self-taught multimedia artist blending poetry, puppetry, sculptural installation, and films to stage resilient refugee stories. I am also an educator to East-African elders that often are learning for the first time. They teach me so much about Somali life and culture. My proudest work, How to Have Fun in a Civil War, is a play about Somali history seen through the eyes of children, has given me such an insight to bringing out the hidden complex identities, and resiliency of minorities in Minnesota. With my fellowship, I hope to learn what it takes to write, develop, produce and distribute powerful refugee and new American stories in cinema.
Photo by Lindsey Marcy