ThoughtGallery.org > In Conversation—Dean Majd with Kelly Long on the Empathetic Eye

In Conversation—Dean Majd with Kelly Long on the Empathetic Eye

Lens based artist Dean Majd joins curator Kelly Long in conversation for an evening regarding the scope of his photographic practice, focusing on themes of empathy, the manifestation of trauma within his chosen community, and the prevalence of the Palestinian voice in the world of visual art. This program is being offered both in person at ICP, located on NYC’s Lower East Side, and online.

About the speakers

Dean Majd (b. 1990) is a self-taught lens-based artist born and based out of Queens, New York. Born of Palestinian immigrants, he studied International Relations with a focus on the Middle East at The City College of New York. Majd began forming his intimate and cinematic visual language after being given his first camera at seven years old by his mother. His diaristic work primarily engages with trauma and how it manifests within contemporary masculinity when negative emotions are repressed, particularly personal and collective grief in relation to addiction, violence, and self-destruction. His work also explores the complexities of the Arab-American dichotomy and the Palestinian diaspora, and often times how those overlap.

Majd has been profiled by Aperture, Matte, AnOther Magazine, GQ Middle East, and Sekka, and has made editorial work for The New York Times, New York Magazine, GQ Middle East, and The Face, among others. His work has been on display at the Museum of the City of New York part of ‘New York Now: Home’ (2023), and he has lectured at Pratt Institute of the Arts. He is passionate about cinema, immensely devoted to his friends (his chosen family), and a proud New Yorker. He believes that love, above all else, is the driving force behind everything he does.

Kelly Long is an art worker and writer currently serving as Senior Curatorial Assistant at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, where she has worked with the Photography Acquisitions Committee since 2017, and developed exhibitions such as Rachel Harrison Life Hack (2019) and Fragments of a Faith Forgotten: The Art of Harry Smith (2023). Most recently, she curated Trust Me (2023), a group exhibition exploring the role that vulnerability plays in forging connection, and the overlapping lives and loves of photography’s creators, viewers, and caretakers. Previously, she has held curatorial and teaching positions at the George Eastman Museum and at the University of Rochester. Her writing has appeared in the catalogues for Chiharu Shiota: The Hand Lines and Gail Thacker: Fugitive Moments, and in publications such as InVisible Culture and Mossflower. She holds a B.A. in art history from Vassar College, and an M.A. in visual and cultural studies from the University of Rochester.











When: Thu., Nov. 7, 2024 at 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Where: International Center of Photography (ICP)
79 Essex St.
212-857-0000
Price: $5
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Lens based artist Dean Majd joins curator Kelly Long in conversation for an evening regarding the scope of his photographic practice, focusing on themes of empathy, the manifestation of trauma within his chosen community, and the prevalence of the Palestinian voice in the world of visual art. This program is being offered both in person at ICP, located on NYC’s Lower East Side, and online.

About the speakers

Dean Majd (b. 1990) is a self-taught lens-based artist born and based out of Queens, New York. Born of Palestinian immigrants, he studied International Relations with a focus on the Middle East at The City College of New York. Majd began forming his intimate and cinematic visual language after being given his first camera at seven years old by his mother. His diaristic work primarily engages with trauma and how it manifests within contemporary masculinity when negative emotions are repressed, particularly personal and collective grief in relation to addiction, violence, and self-destruction. His work also explores the complexities of the Arab-American dichotomy and the Palestinian diaspora, and often times how those overlap.

Majd has been profiled by Aperture, Matte, AnOther Magazine, GQ Middle East, and Sekka, and has made editorial work for The New York Times, New York Magazine, GQ Middle East, and The Face, among others. His work has been on display at the Museum of the City of New York part of ‘New York Now: Home’ (2023), and he has lectured at Pratt Institute of the Arts. He is passionate about cinema, immensely devoted to his friends (his chosen family), and a proud New Yorker. He believes that love, above all else, is the driving force behind everything he does.

Kelly Long is an art worker and writer currently serving as Senior Curatorial Assistant at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, where she has worked with the Photography Acquisitions Committee since 2017, and developed exhibitions such as Rachel Harrison Life Hack (2019) and Fragments of a Faith Forgotten: The Art of Harry Smith (2023). Most recently, she curated Trust Me (2023), a group exhibition exploring the role that vulnerability plays in forging connection, and the overlapping lives and loves of photography’s creators, viewers, and caretakers. Previously, she has held curatorial and teaching positions at the George Eastman Museum and at the University of Rochester. Her writing has appeared in the catalogues for Chiharu Shiota: The Hand Lines and Gail Thacker: Fugitive Moments, and in publications such as InVisible Culture and Mossflower. She holds a B.A. in art history from Vassar College, and an M.A. in visual and cultural studies from the University of Rochester.

Buy tickets/get more info now