Maymanah Farhat’s art historical research and curatorial work focus on underrepresented artists and forgotten art scenes. Since 2005, she has written widely on twentieth and twenty-first century art, contributing essays and chapters to edited volumes, artist monographs, and museum and gallery catalogues. Farhat has been invited to write for such publications as Art Journal, Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies, Callaloo: A Journal of African Diaspora Arts and Letters, Vogue Arabia, Harper’s Bazaar Arabia, Art + Auction, and Apollo. She has presented her research at New York University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard Law School, the University of Amsterdam, Johns Hopkins University, and Università Ca’ Foscari, Venice, Italy, among other institutions.
Farhat has curated exhibitions throughout the U.S. and abroad, notably at the San Francisco Center for the Book, the Center for Book Arts in Manhattan, Minnesota Museum of American Art, Arab American National Museum, Virginia Commonwealth University Gallery in Doha, Qatar, Art Dubai, and Beirut Exhibition Center. She has been included among Foreign Policy’s annual list of 100 Leading Global Thinkers in recognition of her scholarship on Syrian art after the uprising (2014) and honored by the Arab America Foundation as one of 40 Arab Americans under the age of 40 who have made significant contributions to the Arab American community (2020). She holds a BA in the History of Art and Visual Culture from the University of California, Santa Cruz and a MA in Museum Administration from St. John’s University, New York. More info.