Common Ground: A Community Gathering with Suraia Abud & Violaine Barrois

In the community garden of the Arab American National Museum, 2026 Villa Albertine artists-in-residence Suraia Abud and Violaine Barrois, will host a public gathering conceived as a community event. The program will highlight their work-in-progress and ongoing research. Storytelling will unfold through a “show-and-tell” format, inviting participants to present kitchen tools, food-related objects, and personal utensils.

These objects will serve as entry points to share personal and intergenerational narratives, connecting memory, migration, and everyday practices. The event will create an intimate space for exchange, where stories, gestures, and material culture come together to make the invisible visible: what we inherit, what we care for, what remains alive.

Supported by Villa Albertine Chicago