Sumayyah Samaha Explores Issues of War and Occupation
By Maymanah Farhat

In recent years, artist Sumayyah Samaha has been creating works that communicate the catastrophic nature of current Middle Eastern conflicts. In works such as Palestinian Fence, Fifth Crusade, and Mausoleums Samaha mourns the loss of life and destruction of homelands that have resulted from the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the American occupation of Iraq. (more...)

Mary Tuma: Dancing Girls, Passages and Homes for the Disembodied
By Maymanah Farhat

Mary Tuma: Dancing Girls, Passages and Homes for the Disembodied

Since 1992, Palestinian-American artist Mary Tuma has been creating works that address issues of the body, the spirit and identity. Tuma’s work incorporates the use of textiles, found objects and costume design in installation works that are profoundly introspective; yet engage the viewer through explorations of the human condition. (more...)

IN/VISIBLE
By Maymanah Farhat

Currently on display at the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, IN/VISIBLE is an art exhibition that articulates the experiences of a community that has often been silenced. IN/VISIBLE consists of work by first- and second-generation Arab Americans and is the first of its kind. (more...)

The Modern Middle East Through the Eyes of Mohammed
Al Sadoun
By Maymanah Farhat

Iraqi artist Mohammed Al Sadoun has been engaging viewers with multifaceted explorations of Middle Eastern history and sociopolitical issues for thirty years. His work has been exhibited in international art exhibitions since 1975 (more...)

In the Shadow of “Fallen” Heroes*
by Sara Raza

2nd Bishkek International Art Exhibition “In the Shadow of Heroes”, 7-23 October 2005

Hovering somewhere between myth and reality resides the historical concept of heroes as almighty figures with miraculous capabilities to transform both time and place. These mystical super-characters were revered, feared and loathed in equal quantities; just as they were constructed, maintained, abolished and resurrected and have now come to exist comfortably within an easily digestible semi-mythological and historical repartee of once upon a time in a far away land. (more...)

The Art and Activism of Samia Halaby
By Maymanah Farhat

Samia Halaby has been contributing to the development of international art for nearly fifty years. As one of the most established Palestinian-American artists, Halaby’s work is aligned with the progression of the Palestinian art movement, which is renowned for its deep connection to Palestinian culture and political advocacy. (more...)

Made in Palestine
by Maymanah Farhat

Made in Palestine is the first museum exhibition of Modern Palestinian art in American history. Until the exhibition’s opening in 2003, never before had an American institution showcased the works of some of the most influential and established Palestinian artists on such a grand scale. Made in Palestine has become one of the most important art exhibitions in the history of Modern Arab art. (more...)

Calling into the Void
by Sara Raza

“Calling into the Void” is a curatorial project initiated and executed Iranian-American artist, curator and art historian Nazanin Shenasa. This artistic venture was personally motivated by the desire to reassess the current notion and status of “Islamic art” via the language of contemporary visual culture. Frustrated by the concept that Islamic art is perceived as a passé genre in art history, which is ordinarily confined to the collections of worldly influential museums’ or universities’ Near Eastern departments; Shenasa was intent on curating a project that not only challenged, but simultaneously re-contextualised, the way in which this particular branch of art is perceived. (more...)