Join us as we interview artists Hazem Harb and Sama Alshaibi on our afikra Double Exposure series.
Date: Friday, November 19
Time: 12PM NYC | 5PM London | 7PM Beirut | 9PM Abu Dhabi
Hosted By: Mikey Muhanna (afikra)
Bio: Palestinian visual artist Hazem Harb’s trajectory, spanning several decades, maintains an unwavering dialogue with his symbolically charged homeland. Moving from Gaza to Rome and then on to the UAE, Harb has learned to navigate life as a liminal. Knowing that Palestine can never be just a ‘land’, the artist unleashes an ever- evolving repertoire of artistic techniques to negotiate a space which has been carved up and re-drawn many times. His art is at once subsumed in deep locality, fueled by personal insight, and entangled in conversations that cannot be easily separated from the global arena. Much like the artists of the early twentieth century who, through the deployment of collage, healed from the trauma of the first world war by binding together everyday and artistic experiences; Harb succeeds in materializing complex and unfamiliar terrain.
Sama Alshaibi's photographs and videos situate her own body as a site of performance in consideration of the social and gendered impacts of war and migration. Her work complicates the coding of the Arab female figure found in the image history of photographs and moving images. Alshaibi’s sculptural installations evoke the disappearance of the body and act as counter-memorials to war and forced exile. Alshaibi’s monograph, Sand Rushes In, was published by Aperture, NYC. It features her 8-year Silsila series (debuted at the 55th Venice Biennale), which probes the human dimensions of borders, migration, and ecological demise.
This event is being videotaped for subsequent broadcast on the library website and other media. The audience is encouraged to offer comments and raise questions during the formal question and answer period, but please be advised that your voice and image may be recorded and later broadcast as part of this event. By participating in the question and answer period you are consenting to the possible reproduction and transmission of your remarks.