Doris Bittar exhibit in Chula Vista, California

DORIS BITTAR

Uncle Hanna's Electric Heart and other Stories of Resistance

October 12 - November 2, 2006

Two Opening Receptions:

Thursday, October 12, 11 am - Noon

6:00 - 8:30 p.m.

Southwestern College Art Gallery Patio (Building 710)

900 Otay Lakes Road

Chula Vista, CA. 91910-7299

Information & Directions
(619) 216-6605

Gallery Hours
Monday - Thursday 10:30 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Wednesday & Thursday 6 - 8:30 p.m.
Saturday 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Closed School Holidays

The photo installations Uncle Hanna's Electric Heart and Khaldiyeh's River Rock Story are the centerpieces of the exhibition, along with photographic selections from Kul Shay/All Things and paintings from the Stripes and Stars series. Kul Shay/All Things is a work in progress whose database entails the gathering of nearly 4,000 photographs from a six-month sojourn in Beirut, several visits to Syria and a trip to Iran taken in 2005 The project catalogues and articulates my Arabic heritage and how I negotiate between several locations and contexts within the Middle East. The photographs were culled from a wide array of subjects, places and events taken at the onset of Lebanon's political upheaval in early 2005. Kul Shay means "All Things" in Arabic. It is an apt and convenient phrase that both excuses the inclusion of varied experiences and describes my feeling about Middle Eastern cultures as a mix of decorum, abundance, nurturing and contradiction. The main photo installations, Uncle Hanna's Electric Heart and Khaldiyeh's River Rock Story, are of two individuals who show how private acts of domestic creativity become examples of resistance. Through passionately creative efforts and strength of personality these individuals act as agents of resistance in the face of extreme political circumstances. Doris Bittar 2006

Photo:© Doris Bittar
'Uncle Hanna's Electric Heart' Kfarhoune, Lebanon, 2005

archival pigment print; 11 x 14 inches; ed. 10

Bittar's work is incredible! She was part of the Arab American's first major art exhibit IN/VISIBLE and she also was at the DIWAN arts conference. check out her work if you are in/from that area.

The icon of the Virgin Mary reminds me of all the pictures Chaldeans have in our homes.