On Exhibit: "Ghosts of Presence/Bodies of Absence" by Professor John Halaka

The College of Arts and Sciences welcomes all to a new exhibit by University of San Diego professor John Halaka: Ghost of Presence / Bodies of Absence from the project Forgotten Survivors. Through haunting, dreamlike imagery, Halaka's drawings explore the experiences of Palestinian refugees and displaced individuals, informed by personal stories he recorded over many years. The works reflect on themes of exile, memory and the enduring connection between displaced  indigenous populations and their native homelands.

These evocative pieces invite viewers to bear witness to stories of survival and resistance, offering a space for reflection on displacement and cultural memory that spans more than seven decades.

About the Artist

John Halaka is a visual artist and professor of visual arts at the University of San Diego, where he has taught since 1991. His artwork investigates narratives of cultural survival and political resistance in colonized and diasporic communities. The drawings, paintings, photographs, oral history archives and documentary films he creates, visualize the tensions between the emotional presence and physical absence of populations whose cultures have been devastated by the violent intrusions of settler colonialism. His images are produced as a result of extended personal engagements with marginalized communities and are designed to provide an arena for both the participants and the viewers to meditate on survival and resistance as conditions that shape the life experiences of colonized populations.