January 26 – March 12, 2017
Opening Reception: Thursday, February 2, 2017
4:30 – 6:30pm
Inspired by this year’s UConn Reads selected book, Sacred Ground: Pluralism, Prejudice, and the Promise of America by Eboo Patel, this exhibition features artists and subjects connected by a shared history, ideals, and identity that serve as bridges of cooperation throughout Islam and America.
*All works in the exhibition courtesy of the Leila Heller Gallery.
“The University of Connecticut’s UConn Reads program has been created to bring together the University community – from students, faculty, and staff to alumni and friends of UConn, as well as citizens of Connecticut – for a far-reaching and engaging dialogue centered on a book suggested by the community.”
Named by US News & World Report as one of America’s Best Leaders of 2009, Eboo Patel is the Founder and President of Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC), a Chicago-based organization building the interfaith movement on college campuses. Author of the books “Sacred Ground: Pluralism, Prejudice, and the Promise of America” and “Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation,” which won the Louisville Grawemeyer Award in Religion. Eboo is also a regular contributor to the Washington Post, USA Today, Huffington Post, NPR, and CNN. He served on President Obama’s inaugural Advisory Council of the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships and holds a doctorate in the sociology of religion from Oxford University, where he studied on a Rhodes scholarship. Eboo lives in Chicago with his wife, Shehnaz, and two sons. When he’s not teaching his kids about interfaith cooperation, you’ll find him feeding his coffee addiction and rooting for Notre Dame.–Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC)
Image Credit: The Snake Charmer of the 21s Century Savage, 2013. Shoja Azari, American/Iranian b. 1958