Selected Press:
The Wall Street Journal
The Must-See Artworks Inside the Obama Presidential Center
By Kelly Crow, June 16, 2026
Architectural Digest
A First Look Inside the New Obama Presidential Center
By Sam Cochran, June 4, 2026
Galerie
See Inside the Art-Filled Obama Presidential Center
By Ted Loos, May 28, 2026
The New York Times
The Audacity of Art at the Obama Presidential Center
By Robin Pogrebin, May 1, 2026
The Art Newspaper
Chicago’s Obama Presidential Center has art at its core
By Gabriella Angeleti, April 9, 2026
To learn more about Idris Khan's Sky of Hope, please visit obama.org
Idris Khan is among the world-renowned artists whose commissioned works are part of the Obama Presidential Center. Opened in June 2026, the Obama Presidential Center has established public art as a central pillar of its mission, commissioning more than 25 new site-specific works across its 19-acre campus.
Idris Khan's work Sky of Hope is a monumental site-specific painting in the Museum’s Skyroom. Radiating from the apex of the ceiling, the work employs thousands of hand-stamped words from President Obama’s Selma speech honoring Civil Rights leaders, which are also permanently inscribed on the building’s façade, will create a contemplative environment inviting reflection on democracy, resilience, and the enduring power of the public voice.
London-based artist Idris Khan was born in the UK in 1978. Since completing his Master’s Degree with a Distinction in Research at the Royal College of Art in London in 2004, he has received international acclaim for his minimal, yet emotionally charged photographs, videos and sculptures and is without question one of the most exciting British artists of his generation.
In 2024, Idris Khan had his first solo American museum exhibition at the Milwaukee Art Museum. Khan has also had solo exhibitions at international venues including The New Art Gallery Walsall, Walsall, England; Whitworth Gallery, University of Manchester, England; the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, Toronto, Canada; K20, Dusseldorf, Germany; and Gothenburg Konsthall, Sweden. He has also been featured in numerous group exhibitions at venues including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Tate Britain, London, England; Hayward Gallery, London, England; The Saatchi Gallery, London, England; Espace Culturel Louis Vuitton, Paris, France; Baibakov Art Projects, Moscow, Russia; the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, England; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and the Helsinki Kunsthalle, Finland. In 2017 Idris Khan was appointed an OBE for services to Art in the Queen’s Birthday 2017 Honors List.
His work is in the permanent collections of many institutions worldwide such as The Saatchi Collection, London, England; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Israel; the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; the de Young Museum, San Francisco; and the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France.
Idris Khan lives and works in London, England.