The Lands Within Me: Expressions by Canadian Artists of Arab Origin

There is not a single culture - and by extension not a single cultural identity - which is not the "product of blending and cross-pollination": the result of our "openness to the other." The Lands within Me has been conceived as a space for creation, reflexion and personal testimony about cultural métissage. In effect, this work addresses the fact that we are all culturally mixed beings in a perpetual state of becoming, and teaches us as much about ourselves as about others. At a time when ethnic and religious membership is used for political ends - often with devastating effect - it is important to realize that cultural identities in the contemporary world are both myriad and complex. It was with this awareness that The Lands within Me was created - a chant d'amour to the culturally interwoven worlds of the imagination. Today, whether in Beirut, Paris, Algiers, Port-au-Prince, Montreal, Cairo, Toronto, Colombo or Trinidad, promising new and creative identities are being built - identities that must be developed, nurtured and preserved. This is the message transmitted by the artists and authors of the Lands within Me.