Press Release: Come to see the Exhibition Launch and meet the Artist Manal Deeb on the following dates:
Exhibition Launch: Thursday, 4th April 2019, 18:30 – 21:00
Exhibition Dates from Friday 5th April – 18th May 2019
Curated by: Dagmar Painter
Artist: Manal Deeb
Manal 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.
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.
©Manal Deeb
©Manal Deeb
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 expecta-
tions 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.washington-post.com/entertainment/museums/through-art-creating-a-dialogue-between-pal-
estinians-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
Location: P21 GALLERY – 21 Chalton Street, London NW1 1JD, UK | T. +44 20 7121 6190 | E. info@p21.org. uk | W. www.p21.org.uk
Registered Charity Number 1153141
