Art Hounds: Somali art, trans love and an onion

This week Art Hounds recommend an exhibition of Somali art at Mia, "Ballast" at Mixed Blood Theatre and a puppet-filled celebration of the lowly onion at Farm Fest in Duluth.

Poet Nimo Farah is thrilled to see how the Somali community is raising its profile in the Twin Cities arts scene. For example, the Minneapolis Institute of Art is presenting "I am Somali," an exhibition featuring three local artists representing three different generations of Somali-Americans. Together they contemplate civil war, exile and resilience. On view through April 29, 2018.

Twin Cities theater artist Beckett Love highly recommends checking out 20% Theatre's production of "Ballast." It tells the story of two relationships between transgender and cisgender partners. If you're truly in love, does the gender of your partner really matter? How does their transition affect the way you feel for them? Love was impressed with the thoughtful performance and the questions it provoked. On stage at Mixed Blood Theatre through Sept. 10.

Some communities read books together; Duluth celebrates vegetables. Now in its eighth year, the "One Vegetable, One Community" program is heaping love on the lowly onion. Gardener, educator and food advocate Michael Gabler says he's particularly looking forward to "What is an Onion," a performance by The Magic Smelt Puppet Theater along with the Boardwalk Brass Band. The play is inspired by Thich Nhat Hanh's meditation on an orange. Gabler says the event promises to be both a rambunctious party and a layered contemplation of the humble vegetable. The performance gets underway at 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 18, at the UMD Land Lab.