Common Ground Book Launch at CARA in Chelsea, NYC: Robert Blackburn Workshop's First Publication

The Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop (RBPMW) is releasing its first-ever publication, Mohammad Omer Khalil: Common Ground, at a launch on Sunday, October 25 at 2 pm. The event takes place at the Center for Art, Research and Alliances (CARA), 225 West 13th Street. The book is edited by Amina Ahmed and Jenna Hamed. RSVP is encouraged, and preorders are open.

The afternoon is built around readings and open conversation with the artist, master printmaker Mohammad Omer Khalil. He will be joined by RBPMW Artistic Director Jazmine Catasús, Director of Programs and Partnerships Essye Klempner, contributing writers Tumelo Mosaka and Omar Berrada, Sudanese singer and ethnomusicologist Alsarah, writer and translator Mayada Ibrahim, and the two editors.

The book gathers essays, artwork, studio documentation and archival ephemera to follow Khalil's formative years. It starts with his early schooling in Sudan, his move to Italy in 1963 and his arrival in New York in 1967. It then covers his friendship with Robert Blackburn, the founding of MOK Studio and four decades of teaching. A 1978 trip to Asilah, Morocco, with Blackburn and Camille Billops marked the first season of the annual Cultural Moussem. Khalil went on to lead the festival's Engraver's Atelier for twenty-seven years. Contributors include curators from The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Drawing Center, and the book also carries personal reflections from Khalil's children.

The publication accompanies the multi-city exhibition Common Ground, which opened at the Blackburn Study Center in March 2026. Khalil's work was shown at the same time in New York, Philadelphia and Dearborn. Jenna Hamed of Jay Seven Inc. did the design and art direction, and Radix Co-op handled printing and binding. The Teiger Foundation provides major support.

Khalil was born in 1936 in Burri, Sudan, studied in Florence and Ravenna, and moved to New York in 1967. His work is held in the British Museum, the Brooklyn Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, among other collections.