Unpacked Refugee Baggageã¢â❠Exhibit in the Christian Petersen Art Museum Iowa State University

Tuesday / August vii / 2018

UNPACKED: Refugee Baggage Exhibition Opens Sept. four at the Christian Petersen Art Museum, Iowa State University

University Museums at Iowa State Academy announces the Christian Petersen Art Museum's fall exhibition UNPACKED: Refugee Baggage  which features the contemporary sculpture of Iowa Land alumniMohamad Hafez. The exhibition opens on September 4, 2018 and will run until October 19, 2018 at the Christian Petersen Art Museum, 1017 Morrill Hall, Ames, IA. Admission is free. University Museums volition also exist bringing Mohamad Hafez to campus for an engaging lecture on his art that is informed by his personal story, forth with other programming that will shed light on the refugee experience in America.

UNPACKED: Refugee Baggage
University Museums has an infrequent opportunity to host the exhibition UNPACKED: Refugee Baggage. The uniquely beautiful and fragile creations are the work of Syrian-born artist and architect Mohamad Hafez of New Haven, CT. The stories depicted are gathered and curated by Ahmed Badr, an Iraqi-built-in university pupil, writer, activist, and refugee. Through their collaborative storytelling, they hope to humanize the many various people who have come to America as refugees. The stories of people forced to flee their homes, their culture, their families and how America became their new home, a place to begin new lives and escape the constant fright or war and death.

Hafez carefully reconstructs miniature versions of each story and houses the highly detailed recreations within a suitcase. Each is embedded with the voices and stories of real people-from Afghanistan, Congo, Syria, Republic of iraq and Sudan-who have escaped those same rooms and buildings to build a new life in America. The suitcase further amplifies the understanding of each participant'south refugee status. They had no selection but to leave their homes, often carrying lilliputian with them, but their memories survive intact. The memories of the lives they lived in the countries they loved, mingled with the acrid gustation of violence that many witnessed and experienced. Badr brings these stories to life through interview and text, using his own experiences every bit a refugee to sensitively tease out hard memories and hopes for the future.

"To brand such work, to arrive look believable and realistic, I have to immerse myself in what's going on back home," said Hafez. "Sometimes I collapse, looking at what I've created."From For Syrian-Born Artist, "Remodeling the Destruction" of Civil War Is Dark, Merely Hopeful by WNPR, Patrick Skahill.

Mohamad Hafez came to the United States to written report architecture at Iowa State University, just with only a single entry visa, he was unable to return to his beloved Syrian arab republic. With the advent of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, his domicile was forever inverse. Many of his creative recreations exhibit a sense of nostalgia for what was, the homes and culture these refugees took pride in, merely shown in the midst of their destruction. Each story is unique, nonetheless each story tells of a great sense of loss coupled with the courage and force of will it took each refugee to leave their home.

"As an institution that welcomed Mohamad Hafez and allowed him to build a basis for his successful life in this country, it is our accolade to present his very important and timely exhibition. Each work of art is a adventure for viewers to improve empathize and come to empathize the struggles of these individuals, to eliminate the stigma, and to truly see the people who acquit the stamp of refugee."– Adrienne Gennett, acquaintance curator, Academy Museums, Iowa State University

This exhibition is curated and organized by Mohamad Hafez with University Museums. The exhibition is supported, in part, by the Iowa Arts Council, a sectionalisation of the Iowa Department of Cultural Diplomacy, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Generous support for the exhibition and artist lecture was also given by the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Diversity and Inclusion Committee; Larry and Sue Koehrsen; Sarah Nusser and Michael King; Jonathan Sukup; Julie and Len Rodman; College of Design; Global Resource Systems; the Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion; the World Affairs Series and Commission on Lectures, funded by Student Government; International Students and Scholars Office; International Studies Plan; Department of World Languages and Cultures; and the Section of English.

All of the works of art in the exhibition were kindly loaned by the artist, Mohamad Hafez.

More than information at https://www.unpackedrefugee.com/

About the Artist
Syrian artist and architect Mohamad Hafez was born in Damascus in 1984. His parents lived 22 years in Germany, spent 16 years in Saudi arabia, and the family returned to Syrian arab republic when Hafez was 15. The teenaged Hafez enjoyed four, formative years in his native urban center before parting for the U.S. to pursue an electric engineering caste and a Available of Compages at Iowa State University.

A predecessor to today's "Muslim travel ban" defined Hafez'southward early career. The Bush-era National Security Entry-Go out Registration Arrangement held up Hafez's visa for 18 months and made information technology then he wouldn't return to Syria for eight years. Hafez's first decade of artistic practice was individual, a cathartic response to this circumstance.When the Syrian Civil War began, he coped with the hurting from his homeland's destruction by modeling its devastation as high-allegiance sculptures. Several years into the conflict, friends insisted he reveal this work to the world.

Hafez exhibited installations in New York, Boston, and Washington, D.C. His artwork has recently been featured in four highly acclaimed exhibitions and profiled in National Public Radio, The New York Times, and The New Yorker.  Hafez contributed to group shows in the U.Due south., the U.M., and Kuwait. Last year, Hafez toured the solo showUNPACKED: Refugee Luggage where he congenital multi-media sculptures inspired by stories of refugees from Afghanistan, Congo, Syrian arab republic, Republic of iraq, and Sudan into suitcases donated by U.S. immigrants; the source sound interviews accompanied each piece on headphones. In December 2017, UNICEF held an encoreUNPACKED exhibition at its New York headquarters. Hafez serves every bit a 2018 Yale Academy Silliman College Fellow.

More at https://mohamadhafez.com/

Related Events and Programs

-Tuesday, September 4 from iv:30 to half-dozen:00 pm, Christian Petersen Art Museum, 1017 Morrill Hall

EXHIBITION RECEPTION UNPACKED: Refugee Luggage

Join the states for a reception in the newly installed exhibitionUNPACKED: Refugee Baggage currently on view in the Christian Petersen Art Museum. The exhibition tells the stories of different refugees through artist Mohamad Hafez's miniaturized recreations of a moment in time or retentiveness recollected and accompanied by an sound component with the story told in their own words. Each story is unique, yet each story tells of a nifty sense of loss coupled with the courage and force of will it took each refugee to exit their dwelling house. Brief remarks by the artist, who received a BArch in Architecture from ISU in 2009, and University Museums Associate Curator Adrienne Gennett volition begin at 5:fifteen pm. Light refreshments.

-Wednesday, September 5 at 8:00 pm, Sun Room, Memorial Spousal relationship

ARTIST LECTURE Refugee Stories: The Art of Mohamad Hafez

Mohamad Hafez came to the United States to study compages at Iowa State University, and was unable to render to his beloved Syria. With the appearance of the Syrian Ceremonious War in 2011, his habitation was forever inverse. His memories and love for his homeland led Hafez to brainstorm creating very personal works of art in response to the crisis in Syria. Through fine art he hopes to give voice to these refugees, and humanize their plight as they attempt to forge new lives in a globe and then dissimilar their own. Hafez's miniaturized recreations are recollections of the refugee placed within a suitcase.

-Lord's day, September 9 at 2:00 pm, Christian Petersen Art Museum, 1017 Morrill Hall

The Age of the Stateless (Le Temps Des Égarés) – Movie Showing

Sira is a former refugee. She speaks six languages and works every bit a translator for OFPRA, the French Part for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons, which is responsible for applying the dictates of the Geneva Convention. Unscrupulous and extremely lucid, Sira doesn't hesitate to extort huge sums of coin from displaced foreigners seeking asylum in France. While the story is fictional, the dramatic fate and cruelty imposed upon refugees rejected by OFPRA are approached with great accuracy. Screenwriter Gaëlle Bellan (Spiral, 2017) has thoroughly documented the refugee situation and clearly denounces the deficiencies of an outdated, dehumanized system. Directed by Virginie Sauveur (Frères, 2010), Le Temps des Egarés won Best TV Film, Best Screenplay and All-time Original Music Awards at the 2018 Luchon Television Festival and the Audience Award at FIPA, the International Audiovisual Festival in Biarritz.

Source: colcoa.org; Run Time: xc minutes

-Fri, September 21 at 12:00 pm, Christian Petersen Art Museum, 1017 Morrill Hall

Telling Your Story

Who are you? I bet you have a story to tell. Volition you tell information technology? Of all the things that you tin practise to brand the world a better place, few things are more than valuable and beneficial than telling your story. Come to hear Mani Mina, acquaintance professor in Industrial Design, share his story, be inspired to tell your own, and share information technology with the globe.

-Friday, September 28 at 4:00 pm, Christian Petersen Art Museum, 1017 Morrill Hall

War, the Refugee Crunch, and the Global Response

More than than 65 million people are displaced from their homes as a result of wars, persecution, or severe economic difficulties. Figuring out how to reply to this many displaced people and the problems that forced them from their homes is a daunting chore. Join Nell Gabiam, associate professor in World Languages and Cultures and Political Science, in the exhibitionUNPACKED: Refugee Luggage to discuss the response to this global crisis.

-Sunday, October 7 at two:00 pm, Christian Petersen Art Museum, 1017 Morrill Hall

Developing Empathy: The Refugee Feel

Held in the exhibitionUNPACKED: Refugee Baggage, participants volition exist facilitated in making contemporary connections to the refugee feel using the reflective model developed past the civics education organization, Facing History and Ourselves. Facing History and Ourselves provides teachers with content resources and pedagogical strategies to promote classroom conversations about challenging topics. Drawing on her collaborative piece of work with the organization, Dr. Richardson Bruna, associate professor in the Schoolhouse of Education, will model the use of these resources and strategies in encouraging collective pregnant-making related to the exhibition.

-Thursday, Oct eleven at 4:00 pm, Christian Petersen Art Museum, 1017 Morrill Hall

Refugee Stories at Iowa Land

Each work of art in the exhibitionUNPACKED: Refugee Baggage is a chance for viewers to meliorate empathize and come to understand the struggles of individuals, to eliminate the stigma, and to truly come across the people who deport the postage of refugee. ISU faculty, staff, and students will share their own personal narratives on the refugee experience, allowing their lived experiences to further agreement, empathy, and inclusion at Iowa State.

Paradigm Credit:
UNPACKED: Refugee Baggage installation past Mohamad Hafez. Image past Rodney Nelson and courtesy of the artist.

Admission and Hours

The Christian Petersen Fine art Museum is located on the first floor of Morrill Hall on central campus, 603 Morrill Rd. Admission is free, nevertheless there is a suggested donation of $3 per visitor. The Christian Petersen Art Museum's regular hours are as follows: Monday through Friday from 11:00 am to iv:00 pm. The Christian Petersen Art Museum is airtight weekends and during Academy breaks and holidays. Parking available at the Memorial Union Ramp (fees utilize).

Media Data

To schedule interviews with the artist and/or to photo exhibitions or events, please contact Adrienne Gennett (515-294-3342 agennett@iastate.edu).

For more data nigh Academy Museums, call 515.294.3342 or visit

www.museums.iastate.edu

Submited by Academy Museums

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