Met Museum goes against Islamaphobia with chats

The world famous Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York explains Islamic art to its visitors in an attempt to establish an intercultural bridge against the rise of Islamophobia in the country.

Following United States President Donald Trump’s travel ban on six Muslim-majority countries to the U.S., a 10-minute free gallery chats program is organized every Friday in order to promote Islamic and Near Eastern art to the U.S. people. 

The program receives great attention, according to the officials.

After Trump’s order for travel ban 

Speaking to the Anadolu Agency, the Turkish curator of the Islamic art section at the Metropolitan Museum, Deniz Beyazıt, said even though they planned the program in the past, they carried it into effect after Trump’s order for the travel ban.

Stating that one of the prior targets of the program is to break prejudices against Islam, Beyazıt said curators and researchers from the Islamic art section, including her, make presentations and answer questions from visitors every Friday with the free-of-charge program.

She said the program, initiated by the Ancient Near Eastern Art and Islamic art sections, first focused on 
Iran, Iraq, Syria and Yemen out of the six countries affected by the travel ban and aimed to establish an open dialogue with the Middle Eastern art and culture but as it received great interest from the museum visitors, they extended the geographical content of the program.

Beyazıt said the program has become very popular throughout time.

“We want to present another perspective on the Middle East because we read bad news all the time. We want to give positive news. Our goal is to present another perspective with our own work and masterpieces that the museum has. We want to become a bridge,” she said.

The summer schedule of the chats on the Middle East will continue until Aug. 25.