Events

Heart/Homeless

The Art of Manal Deeb

 

Exhibition Launch and meet the artist: Thursday, 4th April 2019, 18:30 – 21:00

Exhibition Dates: 5th April – 18th May 2019

 

Curated by: Dagmar Painter

Artist: Manal Deeb

 

In her first solo exhibition in London, Heart/Homeless, Manal Deeb expands upon the themes of exile and identity that have infused her art practice from the beginning. Following in the footsteps of three seminal Palestinian women artists, from the early 1900s to the present, (Zulfa al-Sa’di , Juliana Seraphim and Mona Hatoum),  Deeb treads new pathways by using her body, and most often her face as a template for artwork expressing the anguish of exile,  the historical continuum of the feminine presence in that anguish,  and the power of the female psyche in overcoming these obstacles.

 In Hidden she superimposes symbolic Arabic calligraphic forms over a tranquil image of her face.  Using only abstractions of letters that do not form words, and enveloping them as a veil over the face, she creates a mystery of unspoken thoughts, while exposing the hidden strength she finds in the feminine and in her culture.  This image is part of a series exploring the perceptions and misperceptions of Palestinian women, whose identities are overlaid with societal expectations and obstacles.

In New Palestine, she ventures into digital art, her arm raised in salute to the hope of a new world for Palestine, but also interpreted as a survivor rising from a sea of disappointments.

Deeb is a Palestinian-American artist born in Ramallah, Palestine.  She lives in Fairfax, Virginia.  Her education in both Studio Arts at the University of Illinois, Chicago and in the Psychology of Art at George Mason University support her artistic explorations of the psyche of the Arab female in exile.

Deeb has exhibited extensively in the  United States and abroad, including New York, Washington DC, Chicago, Dallas, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, Paris, Rome, Jerusalem, Delhi, Cairo, Amman, Doha, Islamabad and Malaga.

A full  biography is available on her website www.ygalleri.com

Dagmar Painter is an independent curator  with exhibitions in Europe and the Middle East, who also curates full time at Gallery Al-Quds in Washington DC.     Her work has been profiled in the Washington Post.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/museums/through-art-creating-a-dialogue-between-palestinians-and-others/2014/09/25/129cdb6e-3271-11e4-9f4d-24103cb8b742_story.html 

Manal Deeb’s solo exhbition in London features 32 paintings and digital artworks, plus 5 video works.

 

PRESS INFORMATION

For further exhibition information, press images and interview opportunities, please contact the gallery: info@p21.org.uk, or the guest curator Dagmar Painter:  dagmar.painter.curator@gmail.com 

 

VISITOR INFORMATION

Free Admission

Opening times: Tuesday – Friday 12–6pm, Saturday 12–4pm, and Wednesdays until 8pm | www.p21.gallery | www.facebook.com/P21Gallery | Twitter @P21Gallery | 21 Chalton Street, London, NW1 1JD Nearest tube: Euston or King’s Cross St. Pancras, T. +44 (0) 20 7121 6190, E. info@p21.org.uk

 

See here for further information.