Mohamad Hafez

Mohamad Hafez is a Syrian-American artist and architect living in the United States. His work primarily explores around the stories and dislocation of Syrian refugees.

Early life

Hafez was born in 1984 in Syria. He emigrated to the United States in 2003, on a visa to study architecture at the University of Iowa.

Work

Hafez is best known for his miniature diorama works, which depict daily life in Syria, which he has been creating since 2004. His 2017 work Unpacked: Refugee Baggage is a series of miniature dioramas based on interviews that conducted with refugees from the Syrian war. It is intended to humanize the refugee subjects.
In 2021, The New Yorker produced a short film on Hafez's work, directed by Jimmy Goldblum and titled A Broken House. The film later aired on the PBS series POV during the POV Shorts installment "Where I'm From."

Selected solo exhibitions

2016 Refugees: Stories of Life's Dreams and Scars - Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
2016 Unsettled Nostalgia - The Harts Gallery, New Milford, Connecticut
2016 Desperate Cargo - Real Art Ways, Hartford, Connecticut
2016 Sea Garbage - The Athenaeum, St. Johnsbury, Vermont
2017 Tomorrow, when Things Have Calmed Down - Hopkins School, New Haven, Connecticut
2017 Facades - NHLC, New Haven, Connecticut
2017 HOMELAND inSECURITY - Lanoue Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts
2017 Critical Refuge - Whitney Humanities Center, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
2017 UNPACKED: Refugee Baggage - Art Space, New Haven, Connecticut
2017 Desperate Cargo - Greenwich Academy, Greenwich, Connecticut
2017 UNPACKED: Refugee Baggage - UNICEF House, New York City, New York
2018 Damascene Memories - Higgins Gallery, Clark University Worcester, Massachusetts
2018 Collateral Damage - Fairfield Art Museum, Walsh Gallery, Fairfield, Connecticut
2018 UNPACKED: Refugee Baggage - Christian Petersen Museum, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa
2019 HOMELAND inSECURITY - Cullis Wade Depot Art Gallery, Mississippi State University, Mississippi
2019 UNPACKED: Refugee Baggage - The Juilliard School, New York City, New York
2019 HOMELAND inSECURITY - Westover School, Middlebury, Connecticut
2019 UNPACKED: Refugee Baggage - Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago, Illinois
2019 UNPACKED: Refugee Baggage - Cullis Wade Depot Art Gallery, Mississippi State University, Mississippi
2019 Retrospective - Miossi Gallery at Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, California

Selected group exhibitions

2018 Syria, Then and Now: Stories from Refugees a century apart - Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York