Estefan on Zurayk and Rogers, 'Afaf Zurayk: Return Journeys'
Afaf Zurayk, Sarah Rogers, ed. Afaf Zurayk: Return Journeys. Beirut: Twig Collaborative/Saleh Barakat Gallery, 2019. 96 pp.
Reviewed by Kareem Estefan (Brown University)
Published on H-AMCA (May, 2019)
Commissioned by Jessica Gerschultz (University of Kansas)
Zurayk’s work and the artist’s life is a testament to resilience and the power of art in the face of adversity. If Zurayk is not a traditionally engaged artist, she is no doubt a committed one, shaped by the upheavals and history of the Arab world. Even though her message is never direct – and this is perhaps its interest – her art is a resistance to the culture of silencing and of violence, a reminder of our shared humanity, in which she always found solace.