If maps symbolize space, power and politics, how would they be transformed when reversing perspectives vis-à-vis identity representation? How would colonial (cultural and spatial) hegemony be represented through the eyes of the colonized? In this lecture, Imad Gebrayel invites designers to rethink the colonial lens through which they perceive — and represent — local and distant communities, using multidisciplinary visual examples to initiate a debate on the (im)possibilities of criticality within design and design education. 

Imad a Lebanese designer, educator and researcher based in Berlin. He specialized in identity representation and bilingual visual communication and produced visual and theoretical works around self-Orientalism in Arab* design, counter-mapping and archiving. Imad also collaborated with several journalistic platforms on exploring common grounds between design and media outlets across Europe. With several years of experience as creative director of Mojo Ink, Imad moved to the Netherlands, where he received a Master’s degree in Graphic Design. Upon moving to Berlin he co-founded various projects centering Arab-migrant experiences. Imad is currently teaching at several academic institutions and working on a PhD project at Humboldt University on the negotiations of Arab-Muslim identifications in the context of Sonnenallee, also known as the Arab* street of Berlin.

 

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