The artist Mohamad Hafez is featured in a solo exhibition at the Gallery at the Visual and Performing Arts Center at Western Connecticut State University titled “Unsettled Nostalgia”. The exhibition runs from February 10 through March 7, 2022. There is a free opening reception Thursday, February 10 from 6 pm - 8 pm. Advance reservations for the opening are required via Eventbrite. Masks and social distancing are required.

In addition there is a special event, “No Place Like Home: Exploring the sights, sounds, and tastes of the Middle East with artist Mohamad Hafez and guests,” on Thursday March 3 from 6 pm - 8 pm at the Veronica Hagman Concert Hall at the VPAC. Click on the above Eventbrite link to find the free event. Registration is limited.

From the gallery’s materials: “A Syrian-American artist and architect, Mohamad Hafez was born in Damascus, raised in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and educated in the Midwestern United States. Expressing the juxtaposition of East and West within him, Hafez’s art reflects the political turmoil in the Middle East through the compilation of found objects, paint, and scrap metal. Using his architectural skills, Hafez creates surrealistic Middle Eastern streetscapes that are architectural in their appearance yet politically charged in their content which addresses the devastation of war, feelings of displacement, and nostalgia for home.

The Department of Art was awarded a $13,000 National Endowment for the Arts "Project Grant" to support "The Home Project," in which Hafez will pursue an extensive program of collaborative art installations and exhibition, student mentoring, public lectures, and other activities during a year-long residency in the WCSU Department of Art that will begin in August and continue through the end of the 2021-22 academic year. Through these diverse and interactive exchanges, he will draw from his unique experiences and artistic works to challenge participants in the project to create their own artistic interpretations of the meaning and concept of home to be exhibited alongside his work in the exhibition.”

The gallery is located on the second floor of the Visual and Performing Arts Center at Western Connecticut State University at 43 Lake Avenue Extension in Danbury on the Westside Campus of Western Connecticut State University. Please see the gallery’s website for operating hours and special events.