The Middle East Institute was pleased to host the opening of an exhibition featuring Palestinian-American artist Manal Deeb's most recent series, Metaphors.
Informed by her experience growing up under Israeli occupation in Ramallah, the works in Deeb's series act as metaphors for her identity as an Arab-American woman, daughter, mother, and artist living outside of her homeland. The complex layering of self-portrait and Arabic poetry in her paintings expresses memories from her childhood and reflects her ongoing journey of living in exile.
Deeb's multimedia work includes painting, photography, video, calligraphy, and music, among others. Her art has been shown in many solo and group exhibits in New York, Washington, D.C., Chicago, London, Cairo, Dallas, Boston, Delhi, Rome, Los Angeles and Fairfax, Virginia.
Deeb was present at the exhibition opening to answer questions and meet attendees. The exhibition will continue at the Oman Library until May 31st, 2016.
The Artist in the Press:
"Manal Deeb's own countenance appears in nearly all of her artwork... but it's hard to distinguish it. The Palestinian-bred Fairfax artist superimposes photographs, calligraphy, and fabric patterns on her face, constructing a visual metaphor for how women's identities are overlaid with societal expectations and political circumstances. Most... blend realism and abstraction. Imagery derived from the paintings also is an element in the ... collages, which are intricately layered with forms and textures to suggest the land of her birth. All these and more, Deeb suggests, create her self." - Mark Jenkins, Washington Post