Ammar Khalifa: AMMARICA

Untitled, 2024, Oil on canvas, 30”x40”

Ammar Khalifa is a Sudanese artist that has engaged with Lynden’s HOME Program in
the Conversations on Forced Displacement 2022-2023 virtual series. This fall, Khalifa’s
first visit to Lynden is in partnership and collaboration with Lynden’s HOME Program
and the co-sponsorship of the Institute of World Affairs, University of Wisconsin
Milwaukee. During his stay, he will visit local area museums and galleries, meet with
students from Milwaukee Public Schools, explore the UWM campus, and meet with the
HOME Refugee Steering Committee against the backdrop of Lynden’s 40-acre grounds.
While at Lynden, Khalifa aims to reflect on (re)building his art practice as a visual artist
and painter, being a newcomer to America--or what he has dubbed, upon his refugee
resettlement to, AMMARICA. As he was en route, and documenting his journey, to the
US, he named his transition after himself and the country he was/is about to (be)come to.

“[AMMARICA] is all about hoping, or striving to take full control of my life. That’s what
freedom, and America, is. And that’s what art is ultimately about. Art after all, is the
ultimate act of creation”. -Ammar Khalifa

HOME Refugee Steering Committee gathering and potluck with the artist Ammar
Khalifa on October 12, 2024, Saturday, 1:30pm at Lynden, in collaboration with IWA-
UWM. To join, please directly contact HOME coordinator at
kkhaira@lyndensculpturegarden.org.

About the Artist
Ammar Khalifa (b. 1986, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia), is a Sudanese artist, illustrator, graphic
designer and animator with a background in Mechanical Engineering and Creative
Multimedia. For over a decade he resided in Malaysia, in the eclectic, historic cities of
Kuala Lumpur and George Town where he was a major contributor in the local art
community. As of July 2022, he is based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, also known as the
refugee capital of America. In 2016, his first solo exhibit, Season of Migration to the
East, was inspired by Tayeb Salih's seminal literary work, Season of Migration to the
North. Khalifa examines expressions of pre-, post- and cross-colonial narratives, such
as migration and home, belonging and estrangement, and exile and assimilation.
Khalifa's oeuvre draws upon traditional, calligraphy-inspired figures, including the
human anatomy, juxtaposed against contemporary, culturally-charged and controversial
interpretations of his subject. His works can be found on:
https://www.instagram.com/ammarkhalifa/