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Youth-Led Programming | Reflections on Wafaa Bilal: Indulge Me

May 24, 202512:00 pm - 2:00 pm

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The Commons

Free for those 18 and under. Tickets available April 12 at noon.

Passion to Profession: Youth-led panel and workshop. Photo: Mikayla Delson. 2025/04/2019.5.4_Passion-to-Profession-36.jpg
A person writes on a brown wall filled with other paper and a wooden bed filled with black and white images and text. The largest text written on the wall reads do you remember how you drew as a child
White sculptures hang from a metal structure under a white canopy. Two people gather around the artworks and a man lying on the ground looking at one of them.
Passion to Profession: Youth-led panel and workshop. Photo: Mikayla Delson. 2025/04/2019.5.4_Passion-to-Profession-36.jpg
A person writes on a brown wall filled with other paper and a wooden bed filled with black and white images and text. The largest text written on the wall reads do you remember how you drew as a child
White sculptures hang from a metal structure under a white canopy. Two people gather around the artworks and a man lying on the ground looking at one of them.

About the Event

Join members of the UIC Arab American Cultural Center and Teen Creative Agency Apprentice Madeleine Afable for a youth-led embroidery and sound-based activation and dialogue in response to Wafaa Bilal: Indulge Me. Explore how personal and political narratives can be stitched together through a collaborative embroidery practice centered on motifs and symbols found across Pan-Arab cultures.

We encourage you to explore Bilal’s exhibition before attending the event to consider the following questions:

  • What does it mean to “indulge” in something—and how does the exhibition challenge or invite indulgence?
  • What emotions or thoughts come up as you experience the work? Are you uncomfortable, curious, moved? Why?
  • Bilal often uses technology and interactivity in his work. What role do you as the viewer play within this context?

This workshop is organized by Teen Creative Agency Apprentice Madeleine Affable.

Access Information

To request accessibility services like ASL interpretation or audio description, please contact us via email at [email protected] or call 312-397-4076.

Related Exhibition

February 1, 2025 - October 19, 2025

Wafaa Bilal: Indulge Me

Funding

Generous support for the Teen Creative Agency is provided by the Dr. Scholl Foundation and Peoples Gas Community Fund. This program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council.

Peoples Gas Community Fund logo

Lead support for Learning programs at the MCA is provided by Jana and Bernardo Hees.

Major support is provided by Carol Prins and John Hart/The Jessica Fund.

Additional generous support is provided by the Friends of Edwin A. Bergman Fund, the Hulda B. & Maurice L. Rothschild Foundation, Diane Kahan, The Marshall Frankel Foundation, and The William Randolph Hearst Foundations.