BIPOC Design History
Design Histories in Southwest Asia & North Africa: Voices from the SWANA Diaspora

Design Histories in the Southwest Asia & North Africa: Voices from the SWANA Diaspora 12th – 21st Century is the third BIPOC Centered design history courses facilitated by Polymode that highlights the diversity of our communities and puts forward the most vulnerable in our liberation.

The design system for the Southwest Asia and North Africa course amplifies the diversity within the community through vibrant colors, ornamental markings created by fragmenting Arabic typographical glyphs inspired by Islamic and Arabic architecture, and a custom map to visualize the geographical region. The magenta is used as the dominant color across graphics, (re)claiming the color pink to amplify voices of women in the SWANA region. The marketing strategy focused on highlighting each speaker, the region they come from, and an archival reference pulled from the presentation to create curiosity and intrigue.

Co-author and Facilitator – Randa Hadi and Polymode
Teaching Assistant – Karuna Gangwani
Designer – Randa Hadi

Poetic Research

The nine (9) classes in this course will be centered around the various visual cultures, varied Arab identities, and design histories from the SWANA region, with emphasis placed on amplifying the voices of women who are often unheard. This course will challenge dominant narratives that are often written about us and not by us.

 

This series of lectures, revisits, rewrites, and actively archives past and contemporary design practices within the SWANA region through the continuous process of negotiation.

 

Through live and asynchronous lectures, readings, and discussions, the class sheds light on moments of oppression and visibility. The series revisits and rewrites the course of design history in a way that centers previously marginalized designers, cultural figures—and particularly BIPOC and QTPOC people.

Themes and topics include: cartographers, artists, newspaper designers, feminist craft practices, Arabic script, typography, Arab queerness, protest posters, Islamic art vs. Arabic art, cultural visual language, with dialogue around political resistance through design, liberation movements, and decolonizing the mind. The diversity of voices from the diaspora is brought together by educators, cultural practitioners, and designers from Egypt, Iran, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Sudan, and Tunis.

 

Our contributing speakers: Sherine Salla, Bahia Shehab, Naïma Ben Ayed, Omaima Dajani, Sadeem Yacoub, Dina Benbrahim, Munirah Al Shami, Danah Abdulla, Wael Morcos, Marwan Kaabour, Sheharazad Fleming, Morehshin Allahyari, and Randa Hadi.