Finding My Blue Sky
Lisson Galleries, London
29 May – 26 July 2025
Curated by Dr. Omar Kholeif
Early Praise in the Press for Finding My Blue Sky
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.
-Brooklyn Rail
Visionary curator Dr. Omar Kholeif orchestrates a symphony of voices from over two dozen multigenerational and multicultural artists.
-The Art Times
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
The best things to do, hear, see or watch in Europe this week.
-Euronews
One of the must-see exhibitions of the summer.
-Hyphen 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
“The show is my love-letter to London, a city that I have continually returned to over the last four decades. It is a journey of retreat and surrender that will be familiar to millions in search of a sense of longing and belonging — of home, of sacred space. Finding My Blue Sky invites spectators to indulge in the sensuous curve of artistic endeavors that exist in their own culturally situated space of dreaming—one that allows us to sketch myriad possible routes to modernity, and with this, new ways of looking altogether.” – Omar Kholeif, curator of Finding My Blue Sky
Finding My Blue Sky is an exhibition conceived as a constellation, personal and searchingly political. Curated by Dr. Omar Kholeif, featuring over thirty intergenerational artists whose work has been brought together from around the globe, wrapping around both of the Gallery's London spaces, its courtyards, as well as the street.
Exhibition-Related Public Programme:
Lisson Gallery is pleased to present a public programme in conjunction with the exhibition Finding My Blue Sky, curated by Dr. Omar Kholeif. Finding My Blue Sky is an ambitious group show which features over twenty artists from diverse nationalities and eras, including several making their London debut, alongside twelve new commissions.
Talk
Huguette Caland – A Self Portrait with Brigitte Caland and Dr. Omar Kholeif
Friday 30 May, 12:30–14:00
67 Lisson Street, London
Join Brigitte Caland and Dr. Omar Kholeif for an intimate conversation on the life and legacy of artist Huguette Caland, featuring a short documentary screening and the global preview of her first critical biography. The event will be followed by an intimate book signing in collaboration with Sternberg Press, London.
Workshop + Talk + Pop Shop
Dr. O Presents: Exploring The Queer Arab Glossary with Marwan Kaabour and Professor Omar Kholeif & Dr. O’s Pop Shop: The Blue Sky Edition
Friday 6 June, from 16:00
27 Bell Street, London
16:00 Dr. O invites artist and designer Marwan Kaabour into the subterranean gallery at 27 Bell Street on the 1 year anniversary of ‘The Queer Arab Glossary’ for an interactive talk and quickfire Q and A followed by book signing.
17:30 Dear World, this is how I feel right now. What happens after the world ends? Is there anything but the infinite possibility of the imagination? After the book signing, come under the olive tree to the courtyard for Dr. O’s Pop Shop: The Blue Sky Edition with music, fashion and drinks. Dr. O will make a rare appearance for a new lecture-performance expanding on the concept of the “Pop Shop” as a communal curatorial archive, a form of mail art, and as a site of democratic encounter with art. They will also be signing copies of their new biography of the artist Huguette Caland published by Sternberg Press.
Poetry Salon
Journeys through the Post-Apollo
Saturday 5 July, 15:00–17:00
67 Lisson Street, London
Join us for a poetry salon celebrating Finding My Blue Sky through the lens of Post-Apollo Press, honouring the life and work of Simone Fattal. Featuring Omar Kholeif in conversation with Sofia Victorino followed by readings from Post-Apollo Press archives with Renee Odjidja, Habda Rashid, Nayia Yiakoumaki and Juyoung Yoon.