The Lab Community

Ifrah Mansour is a Muslim Somali refugee who was born in Saudi Arabia and raised in Somalia, Kenya, and the United States. She experienced civil wars, famine, displacement, droughts, and refugee camps before coming to America. Now, she uses her lived experiences to create artworks that reimagine people’s connection to one another beyond borders, faith, race, class, and sexual orientation. Ifrah’s artwork explores trauma through the eyes of children to uncover the resiliencies of blacks, Muslims, and refugees. She interweaves poetry, puppetry, films, and installations to unearth the stories we are too afraid to share or too broken up to name. She’s been featured in Middle East Eye, BBC, Vice, OkayAfrica, Star Tribune, and City Pages. Her critically-acclaimed works include, “How to Have Fun in a Civil War” “Can I touch it”, “Somalis Balloon”, “I am a Refugee”, “My Aqal” series, and “Halima, the puppet.” She believes great art comes from truth-telling and that our world is in desperate need of truth-telling. Because in truth-telling, we see the cracks of humanity as well as the innate strength of it. Art is a window to our soul. Art can move us to march, to shout, and to demand more equitable, kinder, and caring communities. When she’s not transporting crazy art things on public transportation, Ifrah enjoys teaching elders and allegedly hiking by the many lakes in Minnesota.