PUZZLER: Have you seen this billboard?

Mizna is an organization based in the Midway that promotes Arab-American culture through programming and their art/literary journal. They have partnered with the Minnesota Museum of American Art on a new exhibition, “History Is Not Here: Art and the Arab Imaginary.” The show, which has been in the works for two years, pushes back against Arab stereotypes and features both Arab and non-Arab artists from Northern Africa and Southwest Asia. The billboard at Vandalia and University is part of a series from that exhibition called “Self Portraits with Foreign Fruits and Vegetables,” by artist Raed Yassin. Yassin is from Lebanon, but lives in Germany. His series considers how easily fruits and vegetables from foreign lands are integrated into Western diets – even while those same Western cultures struggle with a growing fear of foreigners. The show is on view through Jan. 5, 2020 at the Minnesota Museum of American Art, 350 Robert Street North, St. Paul. (Photo by Margie O’Loughlin)