Are Images Global?

This text discusses questions of definition and of translation, both textual and cultural, in relation to local and global understandings of art made in the Middle East. In so doing, it explores tensions and contradictions that currently constrain research in this area

University Scholars Day

Presentation for the 2008 University Scholars Day at the University of North Texas discussing research on the National Geographic's representation of women in Islam

The Open Modern Art Collection of Iraq: Web tools for Documenting, Sharing and Enriching Iraqi Artistic Expressions

The Open Modern Art Collection of Iraq (OMACI) project will prototype a robust, participatory content-management system to trace, share and enable community enrichment of the modern art heritage of Iraq. The project represents a collaborative effort of the University of North Texas, the Alexandria Archive Institute, and the School of Information at UC Berkeley. OMACI will create a virtual gallery with images of works of art, many of them now lost, from the Iraqi Museum of Modern Art in Baghdad, linked to publications, exhibition catalogs, and personal documentation. Technologies deployed in this project focus on ease of use and localization, extensive and inclusive documentation, community contribution, and syndication of content elsewhere on the web. The success of the system lies in its ability to reach a wide and participatory audience across the globe, offering users the ability to document, discuss, explore, and enrich Iraqi artistic expressions and experiences

Modern Art in the Arab World

"Modern Art in the Arab World: Primary Documents offers an unprecedented resource for the study of modernism: a compendium of critical art writings by twentieth-century Arab intellectuals and artists. The selection of texts—many of which appear here for the first time in English—includes manifestos, essays, transcripts of roundtable discussions, diary entries, exhibition guest-book comments, letters, and more. Traversing empires and nation-states, diasporas and speculative cultural and political federations, these documents bring light to the global formation of modernism, through debates on originality, public space, spiritualism and art, postcolonial exhibition politics, and Arab nationalism, among many other topics." -- Publisher's website