Opening Reception for Mohamad Hafez: Collateral Damage – FUAM

Mohamad Hafez: Collateral Damage will be on view in the Walsh Gallery in the Quick Center for the arts from October 26 – December 15, 2018; an Opening Reception will take place on Thursday, October 25, at 6:00 p.m. in the Walsh Gallery and Quick Center Lobby. The exhibition and reception are free and open to the public.

Syrian artist and architect Mohamad Hafez was born in Damascus, raised in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and educated in the Midwestern United States. Expressing the internal juxtaposition of East and West, Hafez’ art reflects the political turmoil in the Middle East through the compilation of found objects, paint, and scrap metal. Drawing on his architectural training, Hafez creates surrealistic Middle Eastern streetscapes that are architectural in their appearance yet politically charged in content. This exhibition will feature a selection of Hafez’ work across multiple projects, including several pieces from his most recent series, Unpacked: Refugee Baggage. For this project, Hafez worked with Iraqi-born writer and speaker Ahmed Bahr to re-create rooms, homes, buildings, and landscapes that have suffered the ravages of war, embedding within them the voices and stories of real people – from Afghanistan, Congo, Syria, Iraq, and Sudan – who have escaped those same rooms and buildings to build a new life in America.

Image (detail): Mohamad Hafez, Baggage # 3, 2016. Plaster, paint, antique suitcase, found objects, rusted metal, wood, Persian carpet, dried plants. 24 x 12 x 8 inches.