- This event has ended.
What traces do lives pre- and post-war leave behind, and how do you represent the experience of forced migration? Reproducing the war-torn landscapes of contemporary Syria, Mohamad Hafez creates multi-media sculptures and paintings that represent Middle Eastern streetscapes and buildings besieged by civil war, deliberately contrasted with hopeful verses from the Quran and other elements of his Islamic heritage. The poignant and powerful installation, titled Unsettled Nostalgia, reveals the entangled relationships between home and homeland, refuge and security, and art and politics.
Born in Syria, raised in Saudi Arabia, and educated in the Midwestern United States, New Haven–based artist and architect Hafez offers a very personal view of forced migration—lives before and after, decision points, forced hands, and adjustments to new realities. He uses his expertise as a licensed AIA architect as well as his lived experience of Damascus’s vibrant built environment to create sculptural compilations of paint, metal, and found objects that anchor uneasy conversations, stimulating deeper audience engagement on contentious topics.
The exhibit will be on display in the Higgins Lounge at Dana Commons through December 7. Please contact the Higgins School at (508) 793-7479 for hours and availability.
Co-sponsored by the Higgins School of Humanities; International Development, Community and Environment; Peace Studies; and the Department of Visual and Performing Arts at Clark University