Precarious Identities

Identity is difficult to pin down. I am an Egyptian Arab; I am an immigrant in the United States; I am a graphic designer; I am a photographer; I am a woman; I am a daughter; I am a sister; I am a friend; I am a professional; I am, I am, I am. Growing up in Egypt, witnessing the 2011 Revolution from behind the windowpanes of my family home and out on the streets, I quickly learned how precarious one’s identity can be. The Middle East consists of many different ethnic, religious, cultural, and linguistic groups, yet the region hasn’t succeeded in configuring a national identity that reflects its heterogeneity. Without exception, Middle Eastern states have tried to impose identities on its peoples. But an identity cannot be imposed; identity is an embodiment, a manifestation: a name, a belief, a culture, an ethnicity, a language, and so much more. As a designer, I am interested in investigating the notion of identity through the lens of contemporary culture and events in the Middle East, which has been historically unable to address and resolve the core issue of national identity, as well as in the United States, where national identity is undergoing significant destabilization.

In all my recent projects I have showed the ways in which our current society and the society I grew up in have completely changed; how we don’t hold as much control as we did before, and how people have become numb to it and accept it for what it is now. Adapting and changing to create an image of myself that better fits in the society I live in now is something I've had to go through since moving to Chicago. Everyone has different experiences growing up, especially those that have grown up and been educated most of their lives in different countries, and that’s what I like sharing most as a designer and showing through my projects.