"The Middle East: Gender, Art, and Politics," will be the focus of a panel discussion being held in conjunction with the art exhibition "Women’s Art in Today's Fertile Crescent," on display in the Bernstein Gallery on the lower level of Robertson Hall. The talk will be held on Tuesday, October 2, 2012, at 4:30 p.m., in Bowl 016, Robertson Hall, adjacent to the gallery. A public reception in the gallery will follow the talk.

“Women’s Art in Today’s Fertile Crescent,” is a multi-dimensional exhibit focusing on contemporary women artists, writers, filmmakers, composers, and performers from the Middle East and Middle East diaspora, who explore matters of gender, homeland, geopolitics, theology, the environment, and transnationalism.  The project and five-site exhibition were conceived, curated, and produced by Judith K. Brodsky and Ferris Olin, co-directors of the Institute for Women and Art at Rutgers University. The full program of exhibitions and events is listed at www.fertile-crescent.org.   The exhibition is running through October 20, 2012 in the Bernstein Gallery at the Woodrow Wilson School.

Among twenty-four contemporary feminist artists whose works comprise the exhibition, seven artists will be on view at the Bernstein Gallery: Negar Ahkami (Iranian American); Ghada Amer (Egyptian American), Zeina Barakeh (Lebanese-Palestinian); Reza Farkhondeh (Iranian); Ofri Cnaani (Israeli); Parastou Forouhar (Iranian); and Shadi Ghadirian (Iranian).

Panelists will include: Max D. Weiss, assistant professor of history and Near Eastern studies, Princeton University; Sylvia Chan-Malik, assistant professor of American & women’s and gender studies, Rutgers University; and Zeina Barakeh, a Lebanese-Palestinian artist based in San Francisco. Stanley N. Katz, professor of public and international affairs and director of the Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies at the Woodrow Wilson School, will moderate the panel.