Dina Benbrahim: An Introduction to Moroccan Graphic Design Histories

Join us for an evening with graphic design professor Dina Benbrahim from the University of Connecticut.

Moroccan design narratives have been systematically undervalued, omitted, or exoticized. From the nineteenth century through Moroccan independence from the French Protectorate in 1956, the story of Moroccan art and design was largely written from a colonialist perspective. Through retelling design histories centered on Moroccan perspectives, Dina Benbrahim challenges dominant narratives that have traditionally positioned European aesthetics and methodologies as universal standards, while relegating non-Western design traditions to categories like vernacular or craft. Her approach to culturally decolonizing design addresses several interconnected layers of historical erasure in North Africa. You are invited to an introductory lecture on the topic and to engage in a more pluralistic understanding of global design histories.

Doors open at 6:00pm

dinabenbrahim.design

This talk is funded through the generosity of the Mary Ausplund Tooze Endowed Visiting Professor of Islamic + Ancient Art Fund with additional support from the PSU Middle East Studies Center.