Rola Khayyat

Specialization

Curatorial, Contemporary Middle Eastern Art, Photography and Expanded Image Making

Education

• MFA visual arts, specialization in Photography, Columbia University School of the Arts, 2016
• Diploma in Intensive Drawing and Painting, Florence Academy of Art, 2005
• BA in Historical Studies, American University of Beirut, 2003 

Biography

Rola Khayyat is an interdisciplinary artist, curator and educator based in Doha, Qatar. Through photography, film/video, installation, her socially-engaged projects explore new dimensions on the representation of war, memory, and identity.

Khayyat received an M.F.A. in Visual Arts from Columbia University. Her projects have been shown at apexart, NY; the Black and White Gallery, NY; the Magnum Foundation, NY; Bronx Documentary Center, NY; Kunstraum llc, NY; the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki; Okk /raum 29, Berlin; Tacheles, Berlin; Catalyst Arts Belfast Photo Festival 2013; the 21st International Istanbul Art Fair; North of History, NY; and the JKC gallery, NJ. Her work has been featured in The Nation, Contemporary Practices, L’oeil de la Photographie, The Public Source, Jadaliyya, JMEWS Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies, Yale Theater Duke Press, Warscapes, Mold, Esse, Musee Magazine, The Arab Weekly.

She has been awarded grants and fellowships from VCUarts Richmond (Quest); VCUarts Qatar (FRG); apexart; Young Curators Academy; the Magnum Foundation, Civitella Ranieri; Artellewa, the Fire station Museum, PerForm Festival of Art, Ideas and Activations.

Khayyat is an Assistant Professor of Art at Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar. She previously taught at Columbia University, and the American University in Cairo (AUC).

Research Interests

Contemporary Art, Conceptual Art, Political Art, Popular Art and Culture in the Arab world.

RESIDENCIES, FELLOWSHIPS & AWARDS

• 2023 PerForm Festival of Arts, Ideas, Activations, Fellow, 72-13, T:>Works, Singapore
• Reading Photographs workshop, T:>works & Objectifs, Singapore
• Fire Station Museum, Curatorial Residency, Doha, Qatar
• 2022 Civitella Ranieri, Visual Arts Fellowship, Civitella Ranieri Foundation, Umbria, Italy
• Quest Fund Award, VCUarts, Richmond, US
• FRG (Faculty Research Grant) Award, VCUarts Qatar, Doha, Qatar
• 2021 Kamen Artist Residency, Orah, Bosnia and Herzegovina
• The Festival Academy, Elfesina-Beirut
• 2020 Magnum Foundation Fellowship, New York, NY
• Project Manager, Global Covid Project – TIME and Washington Post in collaboration with the Luce fund and the Magnum Foundation.
• 2019 Deheimatize Belonging, 4th Berlin Autumn Salong (Young Curators Academy), Berlin, Germany
• 2018 Salzburg International Summer Academy of Fine Arts,’The Notion of Home’, Austria
• Unsolicited Exhibition Program (UEP), apexart, NY
• 2014 Visual Arts Fellowship, Columbia University School of the Arts, NY
• 2012 Salzburg International Summer Academy of Fine Arts, ‘Not a thousand words:
• Photography and Narrative’, Austria
• Artellewa, Arab Collaboration Project, Giza, Egypt
• 2008 Metafora International School of Contemporary Art and Art Therapy, Barcelona, Spain

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

• 2024 ‘Noise of Time’, A Theater of the Translocal World: Per°Form Open Academy of Arts and Activations, Yale Theater Magazine, Volume 54, Issue 1, February 1, 2024, Duke University Press.
• 2018 Pieces of Us by Rola Khayyat, Munira Khayyat & Yasmine Khayyat, JMEWS • Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies • 14:3 • November 2018, Duke University Press

Teaching Experience

• Assistant Professor, Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar, 2020-Current
  • Interim Chair of the Painting and Printmaking Department (Spring 2023)
• Assistant Professor, Columbia University, Photo I, Summer Semester, New York, NY, 2016
• Teaching Assistant & Departmental Research Assistant (2015), Columbia University, New York, NY, 2014-2016
• Assistant Professor, American University in Cairo, Analogue and Digital Practices, Cairo, Egypt. 2012-2013

Exhibitions

SELECTED SOLO & TWO PERSON EXHIBITIONS

• 2018 Appearances and Disappearances, North of History, New York, NY
• 2017 Selkeh W Emneh, Secret Dungeon, Brooklyn, NY
• 2012 13 a.m, Afro Asiatische Institut (aai), Vienna, Austria\

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

• 2022 The Road Home, JKC Gallery, Trenton, NJ
• 2017 Backyard Biennial curated by Patrice Helmar, Queens, NY
• 2016 Berlin in Arabic, Kreuzberg Pavillon, Berlin, Germany
• Finished Goods Warehouse, curated by Natalie Bell, Pfizer, Brooklyn, NY
• Lattice Work, Black & White Project Space, Brooklyn, NY
• Columbia MFA Thesis Exhibition, curated by Regine Basha, Fisher Landau Center, Long Island City, NY
• 2015 Cross Cultural Dialogue:Sino American, Javits Center, New York, NY
• 2014 Personal Territories, Okk/Raum 29, Berlin, Germany
• 2013 Open Doors, Forum Eugenio de Almeida, Evora, Portugal
• Catalyst Arts Belfast Photo Festival 2013, Love and Death & The Black Box, Belfast, Northern Ireland
• 2012 Carry On, Artellewa, Cairo, Egypt
• BEYroute, Zico House, Beirut, Lebanon
• Roaming Images, MMCA, Thessaloniki, Greece
• 2011 21st International Istanbul Art Fair (Tuyap), Neo Art Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey
• War and Peace, G11 Gallery, Berlin, Germany
• 2010 UFA 3D Mapping, Beirut, Lebanon
• 2009 Photography Show, Fallbrook House of the Arts, Falbrook, California
• Rise & Fall, Public Assembly, New York; White Room, Miami; DC9, Washington,
• Enormous Room; Boston, Taza Cafe; Providence,The Purple Lounge; The Standard, Hollywood, LA
• UAE Images Photography Competition, SIM Signage, Imaging & Media, Abu Dhabi
• National Exhibition Centre, Abu Dhabi, U.A.E
• Colors of Life, The Gallery Art & Design, Richmond, VA
• Personally Political Contemporary Sensation, Kunsthaus Tacheles, Berlin, Germany
• 2008 Free Range, Metafora, Barcelona, Spain
• Terra de Ningu, Polidor Centre de Producción Cultural, Barcelona, Spain
• 2005 U.N Demining, Orange Mecanique, Beirut, Lebanon

CURATORIAL PROJECTS

• 2023 Organizer and Curator, Ellipsis Folds of Memory, 5 day symposium, Historic Museum of BiH, Galerie Manifesto, VII Academy, Kuma International, Sarajevo, Bosnia
• 2022 Curator, Co-curator with Roi Saade, Magnum Foundation Show, Bronx Documentary Center, NY
• 2021 Curator + Project Manager, Decolonizing Art Narratives: Arab Women Artists Today, A virtual lecture series
• 2020 Curator, Body Politics, La Pared Negra _ Fábrica de Arte Cubano, Havana, Cuba
• 2018 Curator, Light in Wartime, apexart, New York, NY
• 2016 Co-Curator, Lattice Work, Black & White Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
• Co-Curator, Simmer: The Politics of Food, Kunstraum llc, Brooklyn, NY
• 2011 Curator, BEYroute, Roaming Images: 3rd Thessaloniki Biennale, Zico House/Beirut,
• Lebanon & Museum of Modern Contemporary Art (MMCA), Thessaloniki, Greece

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