NOUR BALLOUT
Detroit, MI | balloutnoura@gmail.com
EDUCATION
MFA, Photography, School of The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
BFA, Photography, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI
PROFESSIONAL & TEACHING EXPERIENCE
2023 Guest Lecturer | Islamic Family Law | Wayne State University | Detroit, MI
2022 Project Manager | Sidewalk Fest Artist Residency | Detroit, MI
Guest Lecturer | Digital Photography | Brandeis University | Bostion, MA
Fellowship Mentor | Kresge Arts Foundation | Detroit, MI
2021 Co-curator | Parlor Room Visiting Artist Program | SAIC Photography | Chicago, IL
2021 Guest Lecturer | Arab America: Art, Cultural Politics, and Activism | University of Michigan | Ann Arbor, MI
Guest Lecturer | Art & Music of the Islamic World | University of Michigan | Ann Arbor, MI
2020 Guest Lecturer | Digital Photography | College for Creative Studies | Detroit, MI
Teaching Assistant | School of the Art Institute of Chicago | Chicago, IL
Guest Lecturer | Digital Photography for Non-Majors | University of Michigan | Ann Arbor, MI
2017-22 Founding Executive Director | Habibi House | Detroit, MI
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2023 (UPCOMING) Solo Exhibition | Wayne State Collections | Detroit, MI
(UPCOMING) Dreamer Warior | Detroit Artist Market | Detroit MI
(UPCOMING) Spacore | Co-Prosperity | Chicago, IL
Get Together | Reyes Finn | Detroit, MI
Self of Self: The Islamic Contemporary | University of Michigan Residential College Art Gallery | Ann Arbor, MI
Motion | Spot Lite | Detroit, MI
2022 Midway Art Fair Exhibition | MANA Contemporary | Chicago, IL
I Build How I Remeber | 062 Gallery at Zhou B Art Center | Chicago, IL
Duo Exhibition | Chosen | Galerie Camille | Detroit, MI
SAIC MFA Show | SAIC | Chicago, IL
Up in the Air | Wayne state University | Detroit, MI
2021 All Male Revue | Rubine Red Gallery | Palm Springs, CA
Unraveled. Restructured. Revealed. | Trout Museum of Art | Appleton, WI
Dual Visions | Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit | Detroit, MI
2019 Looking For America | Detroit Historical Museum | Detroit, MI
Transformation | Detroit Artist Market | Detroit, MI
On Home, Identity, and Diaspora | Vox Populi Gallery | Philadelphia, PA
2018 2018 Photography Exhibition | Scarab Club | Detroit, MI
Mark for Redaction | Flux Factory | Queens, NY
Making Spaces Home | Black Box Gallery | Dearborn, MI
Still Healing | Annex Gallery | Detroit, MI
Projections | Detroit Grinds Gallery | Detroit, MI
Transparency | Whitdel Arts | Detroit, MI
2015 Solo Exhibition | Coming Home | Arab American National Museum | Dearborn, MI
2014 Water is Life | 555 Gallery | Detroit, MI
Scope | Wayne State University | Detroit, MI
Stem | 555 Gallery | Detroit, MI
RESIDENCIES
2019 Project Art | Detroit, MI
2018 Flux Factory | Queens, NY
Ghana Think Tank | Detroit, MI
RESEARCH & CURATORIAL PROJECTS
2023- Before We’re Erased: Arab Trans Histories | Research/Curatorial Project | Beirut Lebanon & Detroit, MI
2022 To Make Is To Stay | Curator | Gallerie Camile & Spot Lite Detroit
2021 ARAB: A Real Arab Blueprint Event Series | Curator | Detroit, MI
SAIC Graduate Billboard Exhibition | Producer | Red Bull Arts x SAIC | Chicago, IL
A Travel Guide For Talking Hearts | Co-Curator with Yo-Yo Ma, Tunde Olaniran, and Avery Williamson | UofM Arts Initiative | Ann Arbor, MI
2020 We Exist - The Future is Fluid | Curator | SAS Billboard Exhibition | Detroit, MI
2019 Dirty Laundry | Curator | Detroit, MI
2nd Annual AANM Book + Print Festival | Curator | Arab American National Museum | Dearborn, MI
2018 Mark for Redaction | Lead Art Director | Flux Factory | Queens, NY
Projections | Curator | Detroit Grinds Gallery | Detroit, MI
AANM Book + Print Festival | Curator | Arab American National Museum | Dearborn, MI
AWARDS | FELLOWSHIPS | ACCOMPLISHMENTS
2022 Michigan Arts and Cultural Council Grant
ICI Curatorial Fellowship
Exhibition Grant | Aaron Family Foundation
2021 Transforming Power Fund Grant
Helen Frankenthaler Foundation Grant
SAIC Dean’s Scholarship
SAIC Incentive Scholarship
2020 Graduate Dean Professional Development Award
PNC Small Business Relief Fund
SAIC Dean’s Scholarship
SAIC Incentive Scholarship
2019 Knight Arts Challenge Winner
Creators of Culture Grant
Knight Arts Challenge Finalist
2019 Gilda Award, awarded by Kresge Arts in Detroit, a program of The Kresge Foundation
Applebaum Fellowship
2018 NYFA Immigrant Artists Fellowship
Founded Book + Print Festival
2017 Eugene Driker Endowed Scholarship
Founded Habibi House Residency
2015 Acquired The Bottom Line, Café & Artist Hub
2014 Detroit Betterment Scholarship
John & Irene Sowinski Scholarship
PUBLIC LECTURES
2022 Can the Master’s Tools Be Remade?: Nour Ballout’s Queer Muslim Archive | CAA Conference | Co-Presenter | Chicago, IL
2019 Imagining Intersectional Futures | Panelist | Detroit Art Week | Philadelphia, PA
2017 Invisible in Plain Sight | Panelist | Philadelphia Trans Health Conference | Philadelphia, PA
2016 Arab Heritage Month Zine Workshop | Facilitator | UofM Department of Arab & Muslim American Studies | Ann Arbor, MI
2015 Pedagogy of Action: HIV Education Module | Facilitator | Eastern Michigan University | Ypsilanti, MI
Empowering Survivors of Domestic Violence in Arab Communities: An Educational Module | Facilitator | WSU | Detroit, MI
Palestine as a Site of Global Struggle: From Student Movements to Black4Palestine | Panelist | San Diego, CA.
Gender Justice | Panelist | LGBTQ Muslim Retreat | Philadelphia, PA
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY & PUBLICATIONS
2022 Chosen Exhibition Catalog | Forward by Sascha Crasnow & SJ Crasnow | Galerie Camille | Detroit, MI
To Make Is To Stay Catalog | Co-Curated with Roula David | Detroit, MI
Time Feel | Curated by Leslie Wilson | School of the Art Institute of Chicago | Chicago, IL
2021 Darkroom Detroit Fellowship Publication | Applebaum Family Foundation & Darkroom Detroit | Detroit, MI
Mining Memory | Curated by Sheridan Tucker Anderson | School of the Art Institute of Chicago | Chicago, IL
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Wayne State University Art Collection
Art Institute of Chicago Collection
PRESS
Randiah Camille Green | 'To Make is To Stay' showcases Arab artists and the desire to be understood in a beautiful way | Metro Times |
March 04 ,2022
Clarke, Kinsey | In the shadow of the Motown Museum, another kind of studio emerges | The Neighborhoods | May 22, 2019
Samuelsson, Marcus | No Passport Required: Detroit | PBS | July 10, 2018
Ibrahim, Irum | Noura Ballout: Co-Owner of Detroit-based Coffee Shop on Identity, Safe Spaces, and Storytelling | Huffington Post | October 17, 2017
Wells, Kate | Why images of strangers make us feel less alone | NPR Michigan Radio, January 17, 2014