He works as a security guard at MET. Now his work of art also appears there

New York City – Sometimes, Aria Khalil felt that he was reducing his life after emigrating to New York from Egypt in 2006 with nothing more than $ 400 in his pocket and a suitcase of sculpture tools.

He had studied Fine Arts in Egypt through the generosity of a cousin, and now tried to make his dreams come true in New York City. But that did not happen. Instead, he shared a bedroom with construction workers in New Jersey and struggled to find a constant job.

“He was so naive,” Khalil told CBS News. “I had no plan, just that unidirectional ticket and my dreams.”

His dreams of becoming a professional sculptor were not working, and he wanted to at least be close to art, even if he couldn’t make a living. Then, in 2012, Khalil received a job as a security guard at the iconic Metropolitan Museum of Art, where at least he could be in the presence of teachers.

“He was just trying to find any job to make a living because he was indebted,” Khalil said. “I sent so many emails. I had no security experience. But this is Met. I was very happy.”

Khalil finally had a stable job, but admits that even standing in the museum, he often longed for creating something.

“I cried inside me inside the gallery many times, wondering why it didn’t work for me,” Khalil said.

Then, a couple of years ago, Khalil filed a conversation with a visitor. At least, he thought he was a visitor. But in fact I was talking to Akili Tommasino, curator of the Department of Modern of Contemporary Art of MET.

Khalil mentioned Tommasino that he himself was an Egyptian artist.

“When Aria mentioned that he was Egyptian, I asked him if he could see his work, and at that time, I revealed my identity,” Tommasino said.

In 2018, Tommasino had launched a search for the best examples of art inspired by ancient Egypt. He spent six years looking throughout the new art. But it was with a Met Security Guard that found a new piece.

The only way Tommasino could explain it was like a “divinely orderly encounter.”

Khalil’s sculpture, carved in one piece of ashes wood over the course of five months, is part of An important exhibition on display In the MET until February 17 called “Flight to Egypt: Black Artists and Ancient Egypt, 1876–”.

He never imagined that, one day, his work would also be here.

“It’s amazing,” Khalil said. “That was a really surreal moment for me.”

Several people told Tommasino who visited the exhibition just to see Khalil’s work. Now it is a kind of celebrity, the security guard who protects his own work, at least for the moment.

“That is a risk,” Tommasino joked when asked about losing Khalil as security guard.

“I cried,” Khalil said about the first time he saw his work at the exhibition. “Everything blinked in front of me. He was surreal. He keeps dreaming. He is still waiting all the time.”