Yasmeen Abdallah M.F.A.Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NYFine Arts, with Distinction, 2015 B.A.University of Massachusetts, BostonDegrees in Anthropology and Art with HonorsMinor in Women's & Gender Studies, 2013

Yasmeen Abdallah is an interdisciplinary artist, curator, writer and community organizer. She utilizes sociopolitical aspects and collective engagement as central points in her practice through the exploration of materiality, memory, grassroots movements, reuse, and space. Drawing from the personal and the political through elements of memory, trauma, resilience, and persistence, this work takes shape in various capacities from minimal gestures to maximal installations. Abdallah uses a variety of materials and processes to illustrate the connections between our bodies, history, and contemporary culture. She is inspired by social movements, space, place and personhood. This is in part informed by her experience within diaspora, and the subsequent American perceptions of the SWANA world; particularly the mystique and orientalist exoticism pertaining to the Arab femme. She strives to scrape away demonizing and denigrating aspects brought forth by imperialist powers that seek to control, conquer and oppress. She holds a deep respect and connection to the earth and a DIY ethos, with a deep commitment to social justice and decolonial practice. Abdallah holds Bachelor’s degrees from University of Massachusetts in Anthropology (emphasis in Historical & Collaborative Archaeology, which included field schools with New England indigenous tribal communities); and another in Studio Art with honors, including a Minor in Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies. Abdallah received an MFA in Fine Arts with distinction from Pratt Institute. She has exhibited and lectured at numerous institutions, and is in public, private, and traveling collections in the U.S. and abroad.