Portraits Against Ruin: Photographing Place
Rania Matar, 2018 Guggenheim Fellow, photographer, Beirut/Boston
Dean Majd, photographer, Brooklyn
Saturday, February 15 at 11:00 AM
Maison Française, Buell Hall, 515 W 116th St
Organized by The Platform, a Columbia University-based initiative dedicated to promoting discussion and reflection on contemporary global issues. Co-sponsored by The Middle East Institute.
This series focuses on Palestine and the arts, aiming to historicize the enduring legacies of poetry, literature, music, art, and theatre, while also showcasing new works that address themes of displacement and settler-colonial violence. Focusing on Columbia’s Morningside campus, Harlem, and the broader New York community, the series invites audiences to engage with artistic representations of Palestine—not as a counter to war imagery but as a lens to understand why art is a threat to empire. Second, the series itself is a way of reclaiming space - to speak about Palestine. Even as we celebrate the ceasefire and scenes of return in Gaza, we are sobered by the prospects of rebuilding and lasting peace. We offer this platform as a way of convening around these ideas, and healing.