John Halaka (born 1957) is a

visual artist The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile arts al ...

, documentary filmmaker, and Professor of Visual Arts at the

University of San Diego The University of San Diego (USD) is a private Roman Catholic research university in San Diego, California. Chartered in July 1949 as the independent San Diego College for Women and San Diego University (comprising the College for Men and Schoo ...

in California. He is considered an expert in painting, drawing, photography, documentary filmmaking, oral history, and modern and contemporary

Palestinian art Palestinian art is a term used to refer to paintings, posters, installation art and other visual media produced by Palestinian artists. While the term has also been used to refer to ancient art produced in the geographical region of Palestine, ...

Education and publications

Halaka was born in

El Mansoura Mansoura (' , rural: ) is a city in Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the S ...

, Egypt, in 1957. His father was Palestinian and his mother was Lebanese. They moved to the United States in 1970. He received his

Master's of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admini ...

degree in 1983 from the

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...

in Texas. He has taught at the

since 1991. His writing has appeared in edited anthologies, art catalogues, and academic journals, most often

Jadaliyya ''Jadaliyya'' ("dialectic") is an independent ezine founded in 2010 by the Arab Studies Institute (ASI) to cover the Arab World and the broader Middle East. It publishes articles in Arabic, French, English and Turkish, and is run primarily on a ...

. He has also been interviewed for and profiled in journalistic and academic reports on contemporary Arab art. Graham Goddard and artists at CAAM

Artistic works

Halaka's artwork has been exhibited in Michigan; California; Alaska; Washington, D.C.; Palestine; Spain; and the United Kingdom. He was featured in the inaugural exhibit of the

Arab American National Museum The Arab American National Museum (AANM, ar, المتحف الوطني العربي الأمريكي) opened in 2005 and is the first museum in the world devoted to Arab American history and culture. Located in Dearborn, Michigan, the Museum s ...

. He also participated in the ongoing "I Witness Silwan" mural project in Batan al Hawa and contributed to the major exhibition (and subsequent book) ''The Map Is Not the Territory: Parallel Paths—Palestinians, Native Americans, Irish'' (2013). He is past recipient of a

Fulbright The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

award to Lebanon, where he conducted oral history interviews among

Palestinian refugees Palestinian refugees are citizens of Mandatory Palestine, and their descendants, who fled or were expelled from their country over the course of the 1947–49 Palestine war (1948 Palestinian exodus) and the Six-Day War (1967 Palestinian exodu ...

of multiple generations. He was also awarded a U.S. Scholar fellowship from the

Palestinian American Research Center Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

for 2018–2019 for his project ''Vanishing Harvest: Meditations on the End of Palestinian Agriculture.''

Select bibliography

* "Sketches from the Margins of Marginalized Communities: Lessons in survival, resilience and resistance acquired from Palestinian refugees," in ''Migration Across Boundaries: linking research to practice and experience,'' edited by Parvati Nair and Tendayi Bloom (2016).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Halaka, John Living people 1957 births American artists of Arab descent American documentary filmmakers Arab-American culture in California Palestinian artists American people of Palestinian descent American people of Lebanese descent University of San Diego faculty University of Houston alumni People from Mansoura, Egypt Egyptian emigrants to the United States