Wesaam Al-Badry: The Labor of Belonging

Belonging is a constructed and negotiated social status. To belong, one must find alignment, recognition, and acceptance within a larger group. For some, this is easy. For Wesaam Al-Badry (b. 1984), an immigrant from Nasiriyah, Iraq, finding belonging in Nebraska took effort.

Al-Badry arrived in Lincoln, Nebraska in 1994 at age eleven after he and his family fled their home at the start of the First Gulf War (1990-1991), also known as Desert Storm. Before relocating to Lincoln, Al-Badry’s family spent four years in a refugee camp in Saudi Arabia, where he first experimented with a camera. Documenting what was happening around him helped him process the experience.

This exhibition includes a selection of nineteen photographs from a project Al-Badry began in 2024 to actively participate in and reflect the vibrant culture of his adopted home. Each portrait offers a glimpse into the complex community of people who call Nebraska home. What has emerged is a collective portrait of Nebraska that is simultaneously familiar, surprising, and unabashedly authentic.