Harvard University's Department of Art, Film, and Visual Studies (AFVS) is delighted to announce that artist Walid Raad has been chosen as the 2024 Solomon Fellow. Raad works across installation, performance, video, and photography to explore how historical events of physical and psychological violence affect bodies, minds, culture, and narrative. He will be in residence at AFVS from April 7 to 13, 2024.
Raad is a Professor of Art at The Cooper Union, a Distinguished Visiting Professor of Photography at Bard College (2023-2024), and an internationally acclaimed artist whose unique perspective challenges conventional modes of storytelling. He is well-known for The Atlas Group, a 14-year project about the contemporary history of Lebanon. Raad’s work has been shown in numerous international exhibitions including Documenta 11 and 13, the 14th Istanbul Biennial, the first Vienna Biennale, the Whitney Biennial (2000 and 2002), and the 50th Venice Biennale. He has had one-person exhibitions at the Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin; Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid; Whitechapel Art Gallery, London; and Carré d’Art, Nîmes. His 2015 survey exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, traveled to the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston and Museo Jumex in Mexico City. His work is in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Kunsthaus Zürich; and the Centre Pompidou, Paris, among others.
During his residency at AFVS Raad will share his insights with the Harvard community through class visits, critiques, and a public lecture. This lecture will take place on April 11, 2024, from 5:30 – 7:30 pm, in the Theater at the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts.
The Solomon Fellowship at AFVS invites artists, filmmakers, and critics with strong visions and voices, embedding them into the life of the Department. Fellows interact with students and faculty through class visits, workshops, and a public presentation, deepening the impact of visiting artists through student engagement. The Fellowship, a generous gift of the Solomon Family, extends visiting artists' involvement in the life of the Department and the University at large.
Fellows are nominated through a department-wide open call for nominations which are then considered by the AFVS Visiting Artists Committee, comprised of members representing all areas of the Department, including graduate and undergraduate students.
