The Happy Pod: From security guard to sculptor at the Met Museum
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Hello, I'm Oliver Conway, and in this edition, from guarding art to exhibiting his own at a world-famous museum.
I never dreamed that one day I would be standing in the middle as an artist. In a major exhibit, it's surreal, it's magical.
We meet the security guard whose kindness to a visitor led to his own work going on display.
Also... It was just instant, absolutely amazing. I was in disbelief. Now I've got the confidence to go out and meet people again.
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The Bhutanese are very in tune with pop culture, be it Western pop. I don't think he'll be corrupting.
But we start with the remarkable story of a man who's gone from guarding works of art to having his own sculpture on display at one of the world's most famous museums. Amir Khalil graduated from art school in his home country of Egypt, but after moving to the US in 2006, he ended up working as a security guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. In his free time, he kept up his passion for sculpting, and one day a chance encounter led to an opportunity he'd always dreamed of. Amir told Holly Gibbs how the Met Museum had inspired him almost since he arrived in New York.
Once I moved, of course the reality was different. It's not like a movie. I mean, struggling to live and find a place to sleep, and it was really kind of struggling into... make some art or back to my tools. Of course, it's not easy. And I got sick a little bit because of the wizard. So the Met was the very first museum and almost like first place ever to visit in New York.
How does that feel now that you have your own sculpture on display there? That must be really surreal.
It is really surreal for me and it's overwhelming now. And I'm really grateful, of course, but it's really surreal still, by the way, even though I talk about it and I... trying to understand it because I never planned this. Even though in my dreams, I never dreamed I would like one day I would be standing in the mid as an artist in a major exhibit. It's surreal. It's magical. It's so divine.
And you worked there as a security guard surrounded by the art that you loved and the art that you knew you could make. How was that? Was that frustrating?
Oh yeah, of course, I've been working now for, this is almost my 13th now, I'm going to my 13th year, surrounding all kinds of arts and history from all over the world. I mean, for everybody here at the Met, it's the museum, our museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, has an amazing collection of all kinds of arts and history from all over the world. So it's really an amazing place and I like walking every day in the galleries, looking to the art around me. Of course, it's really inspiring and it's really amazing feelings to be surrounded by all this art and artists and their spirits around. It's really an amazing experience.
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Speakers
19 identified
Unknown 5 min
Oliver Conway 5 min
Amir Khalil 4 min
Bhutan Correspondent 2 min
Kevin Verstreppen 2 min
Akbar Hussain 1 min
Kevin Hill 1 min
John Morgan 1 min
Carl 1 min
BBC Investigation Reporter 1 min
Richard Hamilton 1 min
Julian Marshall 1 min
Claudia Marques 1 min
Holly Gibbs 1 min
David de Schutter 1 min
Brahim Daldali 1 min
Advertisement voice 1 min
Bird's Nest Spoke
Narrator
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