'Finding My Blue Sky' In The Press
25 June 2025
Finding My Blue Sky is an exhibition conceived as a constellation, at once epic and polyglot, personal and searchingly political. Curated by Dr. Omar Kholeif, this ambitious group show at Lisson Gallery features over twenty artists from diverse nationalities and eras, including several making their London debut, alongside twelve new commissions. The show elides biographical and cultural difference in overlapping personal narratives: it is at one level a self-reflexive statement, akin to a diary or memoir, evolving out of Kholeif’s formative interactions and new encounters with artists, and his own diasporic heritage (as the son of Egyptian and Sudanese parents). At another, it invites viewers to participate in the creation of meaning – to dream of their own aesthetic politics.
The exhibition has been accompanied by reviews and interviews globally, including:
A space to pause rather than perform…Finding My Blue Sky is less about dictating meaning than inviting. Its Arabic title asks: “What is the world that you dream of?” is a prompt that lingers long after you leave. – Because Magazine
Every room of this exhibition connects with the beautiful simplicity and terrifying complexity of our individual and collective missions to find our own blue skies. The show reminds us that we’re all weaving away often unaware of our own mastery or the fragility of our creations, but searching hopefully and dreaming of what might be nonetheless. – The Brooklyn Rail
The show drifts through Kholeif’s dreamscapes—canvases that weave together memory, longing, and place. – Hube Magazine
Top Pick, London Gallery Weekend
| Finding My Blue Sky investigates themes of memory, migration, belonging and the search for sanctuary, all explorations that feel pressing in today’s challenging world. – Wallpaper* Magazine
Top Pick, London Gallery Weekend |
The exhibition invites viewers to cross between the boundaries of thinking and feeling, memory and history. – AnOther Magazine
Top Pick, London Gallery Weekend | The Standard
One of the must-see exhibitions of the summer. | Hyphen
The best things to do, hear, see or watch in Europe this week | Euronews
