Leslie Hakim-Dowek / Biographical information:
Leslie Hakim-Dowek is a visual artist of Lebanese origin based in London. Her practice mainly focuses on issues of identity, migration and memory often combining photography, archival material and text. She is a senior lecturer at the University of Portsmouth and was the Visual Advisor for the AHRC Ottoman Pasts, Present Cities:Cosmopolitanism and Transcultural Memories Research project (2013-14) which included a conference, workshops and an exhibition at the Peltz Gallery, Birkbeck College, London. The latter titled East and West: Visualising the Ottoman City was curated by her and included artists / photographers Aikaterini Gegisian and Paris Petridis and was accompanied by a catalogue – online version: www.issuu.com/vtoc.
She has widely exhibited here and abroad including group exhibitions such as iCrossing curated by Yasmina Reggad and Max Houghton for the Brighton Fringe; The Dead curated by Val Williams and Greg Hobson for National Media Museum and Montreal 'Mois de la Photo'; Modern Art Oxford; Manchester City Art Gallery, Impressions Gallery..She undertook a portrait commission for the Olympics in London 2012 organised by the Photographers Gallery and Gulbenkian Foundation. Her work is included in many private and public international collections.